Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
|
The project had special meaning for the 18-year-old from Lexington because she was able to memorialize her mother, Virginia Fuller, who died from cancer when Brittany was 10 years old. Teaming up with Salisbury artist and mentor Jimmy Alston, Fuller painted a replica picture of her and her mother outside of an University of Cincinnati football game. At the time, her brother, Bobby Fuller Jr., was playing for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Alston was the person to trigger Fuller to paint the picture of her mother.
“My mentor asked me, “You want to do one of your hero?” Fuller recalled. “I was like, quick in my head, ‘my mother is my hero.’”
With her father Bobby Fuller Sr. in attendance, the senior presented her project to the Davidson County School Board. The presentation, which lasted about 10 minutes went flawlessly, and the school board seemed to be amazed with her hard work to complete the picture. It was the second time she has presented the project.
“I loved helping her,” Alston said. “It was exciting and I’m very proud of her. She really took it to heart and was very interested in what I could offer her.”
Central Davidson Principal Emily Lipe introduced Fuller to the school board.
“This is indeed a celebration and it’s my privilege and allow Brittany to share with you,” Lipe said. “One thing that I think that all high school principals, teachers and educators throughout wish for is for the senior graduation project to be something very personal to each student and hold a special meaning.”
The picture was also focused on African-American art, and Fuller made some of the materials from scratch with the help of Alston. The picture was detailed, with Fuller’s arm around her mother. In the picture, her mother had glasses and earrings on, which looked real.
“I did African-American art and the reason I wanted to do it is because I didn’t really know much about it.” she told the board. “I wanted to look deeper and understand more background about it. When I researched it, I did find out it was the longest form of traditional art.”
Fuller is planning on attending North Carolina Central University and majoring in business. Currently, she is the scorekeeper for the Central Davidson girl’s basketball team.
The minimum requirement for school projects is spending 10 hours with a mentor, but she spent 33 perfecting the picture.
“Her death has been very emotional,” she said of her mother. “They tell you in school, ‘get this signed by your mom,’ but I don’t have a mom here to sign this.”
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.