Sara Josephine Sirmans

August 18, 1924 — July 24, 2010

Sara Jo Sirmans of Atlanta, died at age 85 on Saturday July 24, 2010. She was born in Luella, GA on August 18, 1924 to Robert Fears Nutt and Mae Hunt Nutt. She was preceded in death by her husband Charles I. Sirmans. She earned M.ED and ED.S of Art Education degrees from the University of GA after receiving her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. She was Art Director of Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills from 1946-1956. She taught at Briar Vista Elementary and Briarcliff High Schools before founding a formal Visual Arts Curriculum and Program for the Dekalb County Schools. She served at the Coordinator of the Visual Arts Program from 1968-1985. She was a member of the National, and Georgia (president) Art Education Associations, Atlanta Arts Alliance, Dekalb Council for the Arts, Delta Kappa Gamma, and the Atlanta Artist Club. As a painter she continued to study and to develop her skills in classes and workshops throughout the country and was considered and excellent watercolorist. As a teacher she guided hundreds of talented young artists in their work. She held the first exhibit of secondary school art in the Galleria of the Woodruff Arts Center and established the precedent for these annual exhibits that encouraged young artists throughout the Southeast. As a volunteer in the arts community she worked on the development of the art gallery at Oglethorpe University, the founding of SCAD and on a resource guide for artists. She was a jurist of numerous regional art shows. She is survived by her daughter, Charlyn L. Sirmans of Lawrenceville; son-in-law, Steve Hogben; granddaughter, Lara Katherine Culver. Memorial services will be held Tuesday, July 27^th at 2:00 p.m. in the chapel of A. S. Turner & Sons. Interment Floral Hills Memory Gardens. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service on Tuesday at A. S. Turner & Sons. In lieu of flowers the family requests contributions to the High Museum, Art Education Fund, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Atlanta, GA 30309.

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Sara Josephine Sirmans

August 18, 1924 — July 24, 2010

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