Artists to display completed Missouri bicentennial mural Sunday

It took more than two years and several trips across the state, but the bicentennial mural has finally been completed. To celebrate, it will be on display Sunday at the Arena Building as part of Cape Girardeau's Great American Fourth of July celebration.

The massive 12-by-30-feet mural features depictions of 18 state symbols, including the state capitol and St. Louis Arch. Visit Cape will give away T-shirts to the first 100 people who come to see the mural.

The mural is the result of two years of planning by Cape Girardeau artists Aaron Horrell and Barb Bailey. Both own Painted Wren Art Gallery off Whitelaw Avenue near Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau.

Horrell said he and Bailey first had the idea for a large-scale collaborative painting after reading a quote from Michael Sweeney in a Southeast Missourian article. Sweeney works for the State Historical Society of Missouri as the Missouri bicentennial coordinator.

In the article, Sweeney said he was looking for large-scale projects to commemorate the bicentennial.

Nearly two and a half years later, a total of 16,116 Missourians have painted a piece of the mural. Bailey and Horrell divided the mural into thousands of two-inch triangles. Each added to its overall image. All Missourians were welcome to paint a triangle.

The mural unofficially surpassed the world record for most people to collaborate on a single painting. In 2017, 13,284 people set the record in Qatar. However, the bicentennial mural was not accepted by Guinness World Records, Bailey said. It submitted after the project began, therefore not following Guinness' rules.

The mural will take permanent home at the Harry S. Truman State Office Building in Jefferson City shortly after the Fourth of July celebration.

The Fourth of July celebration begins at 3 p.m. in Arena Park. A presentation on the mural will begin at 6:30 p.m.