Birmingham-Area McDonald’s Franchise Owner Drawn To Art

The Birmingham News:

Larry Thornton, typically dressed in his dapper business suits, has been a familiar face in Birmingham’s corporate arena for more than three decades.

Though best known as a McDonald’s franchisee since opening his first restaurant in Birmingham in 1992, Thornton spent 15 years before that as an advertising manager at Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United, where he remains a board member. He also is a director of First Commercial Bank.

But most folks acquainted with him aren’t aware of his talent as an artist.

Thornton studied commercial art and earned a bachelor’s in fine arts from Alabama State University in Montgomery, his hometown. He taught art at Vestavia Hills High School for four years before joining Coca-Cola.

Thornton says Black History Month offers him a platform to share his passion: pencil-sketched drawings of icons such as Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King Jr. King is a favorite, as an “individual who championed not just civil rights but human rights as well.”

Photo: Bernard Troncale / The Birmingham News.