Don Norris Portrait Well Received

Rob Wood, right, president of the M&K Foundation, surprised Donetta Norris with a portrait of her late husband Don Norris.

M & K Foundation Benefit raises $17,000
Portrait surprises and thrills family of late Don Norris

by Blake Giles
Published:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 6:11 PM EST


At the 24th M&K Foundation Benefit Saturday, Don Norris was not there to accept the check. But his spirit was present, and his image too. Rob Wood, the president of the foundation since Norris’s death last year, presented a check for $17,000 to Norris’s daughter Tracy Kell, representing the proceeds from the benefit. Those funds will be used to fund scholarships and leadership camps.


But Wood surprised the family with the presentation of an oil portrait by Joe Ruiz, executive director of the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation.


“It was unbelievable,” said Wood. “There was some emotion.”


Norris’s daughter, Tracy Kell of Gainesville, admitted that she was not looking forward to the event this year, and her mother was not even going to attend. But they came at the insistence of Wood, and they were ultimately delighted they came.

“Mother was so excited,” said Kell of Donetta’s reaction to the portrait. It is amazing considering that Mr. Ruiz had never met Dad. It was uncanny how much the portrait looked like him. Mother was thrilled. It meant so much to us.”

Because he had never met Norris, Ruiz painted the portrait from photos.


“It can be difficult to do,” he said. “But I do it because people come and want it done on the sly. It is possible to work from photos, but it is not the best, because no matter how good the photos are, you might miss a detail that you could get from real life.”

Judging from the crowd reaction, Ruiz did not miss anything.


“It was pretty incredible when they unveiled it because there were a lot of oohs and aahs,” said Ruiz.


But Ruiz was overwhelmed when one of Don Norris’s granddaughters approached him in tears and told him that his oil portrait had capture her grandfather’s spirit.


“The thing about portraits is that you know that it will be passed on,” Ruiz said. “This will be with them for generations. It is an honor for me as an artist to be able to make something for the family.

“I always feel I know the person a little better after I stare at them for weeks,” he said.