Hi ya’ll, my name is Sunni, pictured with my beautiful family on the left and want to start by saying WELCOME and I hope the mural makes your day brighter.

I had the honor of purchasing the “101 Building” in 2016. As a Franklin native, this building was special to me, and this year, I had the opportunity to give it a much-deserved facelift. The building currently serves its purpose for commercial and residential occupancy and has as much character inside as it does outside.

Despite the financial investment, it was vital for me to contribute to the growth of our community in hopes of engaging our citizens and attracting others to the heart of the community we love so much, and I felt a mural was just the way to do that. The artist, Kate Kinder, and I are both childhood friends and 2007 Franklin-Simpson Alumni. I had watched her artistic career evolve over the years via social networking and saw her grow to the large canvas of buildings, and I knew that I had to figure out a way to collaborate on this endeavor. Our personal connection to the mural project made it even more special.

I had a vision of a black building with colors that popped off it, catching the eyes of passersby and instilling joy in those who saw it. I had many ideas and Kate was able to wrangle them all in and create this dark botanical masterpiece. To some, there is no rhyme or reason to the mural's placement or scale of the flowers and critters; however, it was all very intentional. There is an interactive dandelion, a weed if you must, amongst other dandelions throughout the botanical garden to remind us of the beauty in all stages of life. Some flowers represent the birth of mine and my husband's children and the children that we lost. There are two blue butterflies in honor of lost loved ones. A working bumblebee reminds us that growth takes hard work and perseverance.  There is a grasshopper for luck and encouragement and a ladybug to represent the devotion of our town.

I feel that my children fully grasped what I was trying to achieve when I asked them what they felt when they stood next to the mural. The adjectives they used were “happy,” “proud,” and “excited”! I hope anyone who passes by it or stops to take a photo with it feels the same amount of “joy” that I do.