A portion of the mural that third grade students of Joplin's R-8 district are creating. The theme of the mural is Our Town: Joplin.

Move over, Thomas Hart Benton! Upstairs at Spiva Center for the Arts, an unusual mural is in the making, and the creators are the 575 third grade students of Joplin's R-8 district. The theme of the mural is Our Town: Joplin created on large sheets of corrugated cardboard donated by Arrow Box Company of Joplin.

Joplin third graders are visiting Spiva for their annual school field trip and viewing Spiva’s current exhibit In the Company of Outsiders, featuring the art of Jessie Montes, Robert Eugene Smith, and David Kontra.

“This year’s field trip to Spiva offers Joplin schoolchildren a chance to see art that is quite different than what is found in most art books, museums, and traditional galleries," said Jo Mueller, Spiva's Executive Director.

Mueller goes on to explain that Jessie Montes "paints" with cardboard, creating colorful geometric designs, three dimensional sculpture, even portraits of famous people, such as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Brad Pitt, and Jay Leno, all fabricated from quarter-inch strips of corrugated paperboard. Robert Eugene Smith works on canvas using strong black outlines colored in with bright hues, to depict cartoon characters and "real" people engaged in everyday activities. David Kontra, who is visually impaired, paints urban flavored scenes inspired by pop music and current events.

Guiding students around the Main Gallery, tour leaders encourage students to look at the rendering style and materials used by these nontraditional artists. In the upstairs studio room, students draw and cut out the people, vehicles, pets, birds, playground items, flowers, and other components of life in Joplin–real or imagined–that they have made and add to the collaborative cardboard mural.

The mural will remain installed at Spiva through Sunday, February 25, so that the students can return with their parents to see the accumulative efforts of all 575 third graders.

Elaina Edman, Cecil Floyd Assistant Principal and District Art Specialist, is very pleased with this year's program and mural project. "The Spiva show is truly amazing and very accessible to the youngsters,” she noted. “From the educational aspect, the students are using learned skills and fulfilling classroom requirements while enjoying a wonderful collaborative, hands-on art experience.”

From one third grader’s perspective, the field trip to Spiva and mural project are just “fun!”


The schedule for Joplin R-8 third grade visits to Spiva Center for the Arts:

Monday, February 5: Emerson, 9am; Irving, Noon

Tuesday, February 6: Cecil Floyd, 9am and Noon

Wednesday, February 7: Eastmorland, 9am; Columbia, Noon

Thursday, February 8: Duenweg/Duquesne, 9am; Jefferson, Noon

Monday, February 12: Stapleton, 9am and Noon

Tuesday, February 13: Royal Heights, 9am; Kelsey Norman, Noon

Thursday, February 15: McKinley, 9am; West Central, Noon

The Main Gallery exhibit, In the Company of Outsiders, is open to the public through March 2. Other Visions in the Regional Gallery continues through Sunday, February 25. Spiva Center for the Arts is located at Third and Wall in downtown Joplin. The galleries are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and Sunday, 1 to 5pm. Admission to the galleries is by voluntary contribution. The Company of Outsiders is sponsored by Pro 100 Inc. Realtors. Additional financial assistance for Spiva programs is provided by the Friends of St. Avips and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

For additional information, please call 417.623.0183.

George A. Spiva Center for the Arts
222 W. 3rd Street
Joplin, Mo 64801
Tel: 417-623-0183
Fax: 417-623-3805
www.spivaarts.org