CARL JUNCTION, Mo. —
Carl Junction will be the latest in a string of towns to create an outdoor community mural.
Members of the CJ Cultural Affairs Committee met recently with local muralist Kyle McKenzie to kick off the planning stage by discussing the location, process, cost and how to raise funds.
Jerry Botts, owner of Bruner Drugs, has agreed for the mural to be created on metal panels that would then be attached to the north wall of his historic brick building at the corner of Main and Pennell streets. Formerly a bank, the building was built in 1893.
“We could be a Route 66 side trip,” said resident Dixie Asbell, who attended the meeting.
There are 18 murals in Jasper and Newton counties — 19 counting the indoor mural at the Carl Junction Community Center. The most recent to be completed was a mural in Webb City depicting the farmers market. McKenzie was the lead muralist on that project, and last year apprenticed under regional muralist David Loewenstein on the Joplin mural at 15th and Main streets.
“This has been a goal of the Cultural Affairs Committee for some time,” said Chamber of Commerce President Gary Stubblefield, who heads up the committee. “Something like this really brings the community together and personalizes it.”
McKenzie told the group such a process always begins with community meetings “so that anyone who wants to can come and have input.”
“From there, a general conversation is started, we write stuff down and patterns emerge,” he said. Those patterns will point the way to an identity representative of Carl Junction.
“It’s important not to rush that process,” McKenzie noted.
From there, a design team will be formed of volunteers willing to commit to at least a few nights each week for about a month.
“That’s when we will get in-depth at hashing out specific ideas,” McKenzie said. “Then, whoever I can afford to hire as assistants will fine-tune the design work.”
Once finalized and approved by the group, the painting process will begin. In a sort of “paint-by-numbers approach,” the lead muralist will guide participants with little or no painting experience at filling in colors.
The muralist then finishes the work with detail.
McKenzie told the group that the Webb City mural cost about $7,500 for paint and supplies.
The artist generated $2,500 of the cost through an online fundraising platform called Kickstarter, which any group may apply to use. Of the 50 people who donated from $1 to $500, some were local residents, while others lived elsewhere but had either a desire to support Webb City or the arts.
The Webb City project also received $3,500 from a Missouri Arts Council grant, and the remainder from local businesses.
Those in attendance last week said they were eager to engage the entire community, including schoolchildren, youth organizations, civic organizations and senior citizens.
Themes in the mural might include a miner’s helmet that could shine a light on Carl Junction’s past as well as the future, a mammoth as a nod to the fossils found in the 1890s, or the town’s annual bluegrass festival, they said.
In coming weeks McKenzie will present the group with a proposed budget. Updates can be found on Facebook at the Carl Junction Community Mural Project.
Mural dedication
A dedication of the Webb City mural will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 21. The mural is located downtown on the southeast corner of Broadway and Main Street.
Local News
Carl Junction planning community mural project
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