Wetumpka art legend Don Sawyer dies

Look anywhere in Wetumpka and there is Don Sawyer’s mark — the Hollywood Fish.

Almost always on a yellow background, the fish is wearing sunglasses and grinning to the world. Look close enough, and you’re likely to find a cross and a church in the painting. Those paintings will now stand as memories as Sawyer died Friday after a battle with cancer.

Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Shellie Phelps took a painting class with Sawyer in the first months after moving to Wetumpka and the two were friends ever since.

“Don understood that certain people are creators,” Phelps said. “He believed that was Biblical and he was such an encourager. He is responsible for so much in Wetumpka.”

Sawyer promoted the arts through his Company Street studio, hosting shows with his Downtown Wetumpka Artists friends and encouraging others to find their own passions within art.

One such person was paper mache artist John Perdue, who said Sawyer was a great friend and mentor. 

“He got me started with my art career,” Perdue said. “He catapulted my art career. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”

Wetumpka’s entire art scene wouldn’t have been the same without Sawyer. 

“He was a driving force for art in Wetumpka,” The Kelly executive director Jennifer Eifert said. “He sent us so many artists.”

Along the way, Sawyer partnered with many people to promote the arts in Wetumpka, including Marcia Weber, a high school classmate.

“He has done what a lot of people would not do,” Weber said. “He rolled up his sleeves and gave for the arts for the sake of art. The arts will be much poorer without Don. We are going to really miss him. I don’t know who will fill the void.”