OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
TWO RANDOLPH COUNTY MURALS
Thousands of years ago an unknown group of what we think were the first immigrants to North America lived in Randolph County and left a record of their lives on the wall of a cave in the northern part of the county. The cave is now a part Camp Thunderbird and belongs to the Boy Scouts of America. The drawings of these prehistoric Indians, was rather primitive, but it depicted activities of their daily life and, thus, left a record of themselves for future generations.
Now comes the Summer Art Class of Moberly School District with Norma Crafton, the art teacher at Moberly Middle School to the south wall of the Randolph County Historical Society at 223 North Clark in Moberly. She and the students are being guided in painting a 20′ x 80′ mural by none ther than David Loewenstein, a noted mural artist from Lawrence, KS. You can look at some of his work on his web site at www.davidloewenstein.com.
His chief assistant is Bobby Thorpe, a recent graduate of Moberly Area Community College. Bobby has been accepted for entrance into the prestigious ansas City Art Institute next fall. Guembee Lee, who graduated from Moberly High School this year, is also part of the paint crew and she is on her way to Stephens College in Columbia next fall.
The students toured the Randolph County Historical Society museum and the Railroad museum as a start of the research needed to design the mural. They also read books and did interviews with people about what Moberly meant to them. With the information in hand they started the process of narrowing down the hundreds of ideas into just a few that could be drawn on the wall. The result is a historical as well as a contemporary look at the community. Fred Abrahamsen, Nick Heckes, Nicole Helton, Jessica Helton and Andrea Johnson are among those that have been on the scaffolding for the last few days in sweltering heat. Others that have been up and down the side of the wall are Laura Johnston, Dana Klatt, Josh Wilson, James Winn and Jonathon Winn.
It was the grant writing of Mrs Crafton that started the ball rolling for the project. Karen Hunt, Downtown Association executive and the chairman of their beautification committee, Dan Larimer, of S&D Enterprises were of great help in raising the money.
The Randolph County Historical Society Board of Directors listened to the proposal and gave permission to use our south wall for the mural.
The new mural may not last as long as the one in the cave, but it serves the same purpose. Money is still needed to finish the mural. Please stop by when you are in the area, watch the action and leave a donation.
ICE CREAM SOCIAL AND MURAL PAINTING DAY
Have you ever had the experience of eating ice cream and cake and helping paint a mural on a wall on the same day? Not many people in the world can claim such a feat. But on Saturday 21 June you can do just that at the History Center. Plans for the Annual Ice Cream Social are being finalized and the mural has a good start. Painting starts about 8:30 AM and will continue until 5 or so. Ice cream and cake will be served from 1 – 3. And the museum will be open as well. Just remember anyone that comes by can paint. The ice cream requires a $3.00 ticket. So come on down Saturday to the History Center, which is across the street from the Moberly Police Station – grab a spoon and swing a brush.