Nash Selected to Paint Former Mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson
In late 2005 Tom was notified that he had been selected to paint the portrait of former Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson for Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. 'I feel very honored to have been chosen to create this portrait. I remember mayor Jackson vividly. I moved to Georgia towards the end of 1972. He was elected the following year and served for the next eight years that I lived in Atlanta. He later served a third term from 1989-93. He was very popular and it is widely believed that he couldn've easily been elected and served another term had his health permitted. I'm looking forward to working with Mrs. Valerie Jackson as I continue to design this tribute to her late husband. '
Not only was Jackson Atlanta's first African American mayor but at 35, he was also the nations youngest mayor. Among his many achievements was the massive expansion of the airport, which now bears his name.
This commission marks the second Atlanta mayor that Nash has been chosen to paint. In 1998 former Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. came to Tom's Roswell studio to sit for his portrait. That painting is now in the collection of the Ivan Allen College at Georgia Tech, which commissioned it.
Widely recognized for his portraits of public figures, Nash has also previously painted officials portraits of former Governor and Senator Zell Miller, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and also former Senator Sam Nunn. The Zell Miller portrait hangs in the Georgia Capitol and the Newt Gingrich portrait graces the Speaker's gallery outside the House chambers of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.
The Mayor Jackson portrait is a public/private project with the funding coming largely from friends and admirers of the late Mayor.
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on Tom's progress on this exciting project.
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