Among the final five designs selected Tuesday by the Mississippi state flag commission are two featuring a magnolia flower created by a former Greenwood resident.
Joe
This finalist for the new Mississippi flag design includes an image of a magnolia by former Greenwood resident Sue Anna Joe.
This finalist for the new Mississippi flag design includes an image of a magnolia by former Greenwood resident Sue Anna Joe.
“It certainly wasn’t something I expected,” Sue Anna Joe said.
Joe, a Pillow Academy graduate who now resides in San Francisco, had originally submitted a flag design she created featuring a magnolia she had traced from a picture she found online of the flower, making some of her own artistic adjustments. Her magnolia design was incorporated into two flags created by a designer working with the commission that were among the top nine designs announced Friday. The final five designs were selected Tuesday by the commission, a nine-member group recommending a new state flag, which will be voted on in November.
“I really didn’t expect them to notice my flower amongst all those 2,800 submissions,” said Joe. “So it is kind of a shock that someone paid attention to it.”
According to the Associated Press, the commissioners said that they used Joe’s magnolia because it had a cleaner design than the other magnolias that were submitted.
Joe said it took some time for her to get the magnolia to look the way she wanted.
“It took me like a dozen tries to get that flower to look right,” she said. “I guess it was worth it. There was a time I think I wanted to throw in the towel and say, ‘Let’s just not do this.’ But it worked out, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.”
Although Joe would rather her original flag design be in the final five than just her magnolia, she said, “It’s still surreal to even be a part of this process this far.”
Of the two featuring her magnolia design, Joe said her favorite is the flag with a dark blue background behind the state flower.
“It’s closer to my original drawing,” she said.
She did have one concern about the flag designs featuring her magnolia, which she said was brought up in Facebook comments.
The ring of stars surrounding the magnolia were not symmetrical. Ten stars were on the left side and nine on the right with a gold star at the top — a total of 20. “In God We Trust” completed the circle below.
“That is a detail that I’m personally concerned with,” she said.
The images released after the final five designs were announced included updated versions of the two flags, both with the magnolia surrounded by 10 stars on each side, a gold star at the top and “In God We Trust” below.
Joe said the most important thing to her is that the people of Mississippi vote for a flag that they feel best represents the state and its residents, because “flags don’t change every few years.”
“In the end, I really do hope that when people go to vote in November they really should vote based on how they feel about the flag that’s on the ballot,” she said. “They should really listen to their gut. If they are not happy with it, they should vote no. This is about all of us — those of us who live (in Mississippi) and those of us who have ties there — and what represents us. ... What gets voted and approved is essentially going to be the state flag forever. So people need to take this very seriously.”
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
