As Special As They Get
Cottrell Elementary
Dahlonega, GA 2026
Mural, Song & Music Video
Twelve native flowers. One hundred young artists. A mural you can step inside.
The music video uses green screen and immersive projection to place young artists inside their own artwork — the mural becomes a moving image they can walk through. The song was written from words families actually said. The mural now lives on the wall of their school.
Cottrell Elementary partnered with visiting artists Sarah Conarro and Julian Bozeman of The Painted Cloud for a week-long artist-in-residence. The Painted Cloud teamed with 1st grade teacher Allison Head to write the grant and design the project. Together, approximately 100 young artists across all six 1st grade classes created a collaborative mural inspired by the native flowers and mountain landscape surrounding the school.
Young artists learned the song, practiced singing in unison, and recorded in small groups with microphones and headphones. They painted collaboratively — no single young artist painted a whole flower. The panels moved between classes. A mark made by one was built on by another. They experimented with green screen, filmed each other, ran the camera, and worked with cameras suspended from the ceiling — considering points of view and perspectives. They practiced being performer and audience. They trusted a process without knowing the outcome ahead of time.
The mural features 12 native flowers of the Blue Ridge Mountains: Dogwood, Cherokee Rose, Rhododendron, Mountain Laurel, Trillium, Fire Pink, Flame Azalea, Wild Columbine, Black-Eyed Susan, Goldenrod, Blue Violet, and Virginia Bluebells. These are the flowers that grow out of the ground the young artists walk on every day — a nearly complete color spectrum rooted in place. The flowers invite immediate joy, and also further knowledge — from identification to meaning to history.
The Cherokee Rose — Georgia's state flower — anchors the composition. Dahlonega comes from the Cherokee word "taulonica" meaning yellow metal. Gold runs through everything here: the name of the town, the history of the land, the goldenrod blooming in the fields, the center of the Cherokee Rose on the mural.
Families shaped the content. A questionnaire asked families to share a positive trait they see in their child, a favorite native flower, a term of endearment used at home, and what languages they speak. Those responses became the actual material — the lyrics in the song (see below!), the flowers on the mural.
The mural palette was matched to Cottrell Elementary's school colors and the colors of the land: the purple-blue of the Blue Ridge mountains, the golds of Dahlonega's goldenrod, the greens and reds of native flowers.
Through painting, songwriting, and video documentation, young artists explored what it means to contribute to something larger than themselves — and what happens when a whole community creates together.
As Special As They Get lyrics:
Every spring the hills have waves of color roll across em
mountain laurel, dogwoods, and flame azalea blossoms
and you and me
as special as they get
sweet and helpful as the honey bee
funny spunky and independent
full of creativity
and easy like the hills we roll along
and when i learn about you and you learn about me
and we learn about the past and how it came to be
about the people, sun, and rain that shaped these hills
and the people here now that shape them still
we can better come together and open new doors
and when we come together we become greater than before
we’ve got to get together
you and me in unity
got to get together
every human being
we’ve got to get together
we’ve got to get together
the flowers from afar I can see them all together
when I look up close i notice theres no identical petal
just like you and me
as special as they come
we’re adventurous, courageous,
like the trees we stand strong
we’re determined, clever, kind, intelligent,
and easy like the hills we roll along
and when we listen to the stories they tell
from the Cherokee rose to the Virginia bluebell
about the people, sun, and rain that shaped these hills
and the people here now that shape them still
then we can better come together and open new doors
and when we come together we become greater than before
we’ve got to get together
you and me in unity
got to get together
every human being
we’ve got to get together
when i open up my heart
and my mind then i find
every person is a part
they’re a part of the design
and when we all combine
we make the whole thing better
we’ve got to get together
[sax solo]
when we understand the past
we can make the future greater
when I treat a stranger
like they’re my neighbor
then someone I dont know becomes my friend
and I show them I love them
when I tell them
you’re my
baby babe mi bebe
you’re my dear my buddy
beanie bearcito my honey bun honey
my darling june bug cutie pie
my little love bug my sunshine
snuggly buggly prince my pumpkin
silly goose my sweet little somethin
with your sweet little cheeks my baby angel
squishy sugar bear you make me grateful
you make me happy
you make me better
so take my hand
let’s be together
we’ve got to get together
you and me in unity
got to get together
every human being
we’ve got to get together
when i open up my heart
and my mind then i find
every person is a part
they’re a part of the design
and when we all combine
we make the whole thing better
we’ve got to get together
The project was supported by the Alice Sampson-Cordle Artist-in-Residence Grant from the Lumpkin County Education Foundation, with support from principal Stacie Gerrells and teacher liaison Allison Head. Thanks to Jesse Perethian's shop class at Lumpkin County High School for cutting and prepping the mountain panels, Roman Gaddis for playing the mandolin, Cecelia and Owen Woody for playing their saxophones, and Ramón Steadman for drumming.