JACKSON IN SEARCH OF ARTIST FOR NEW MURAL

JACKSON -- The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri is looking for artists with an eye for history.

The council is sponsoring an art competition for designing a mural to be painted on the Clabaugh building in Jackson.

Herb Wickham, a member of the council board and an artist, will present a briefing on the contest and the history of the city at 1 p.m. today at the building on the corner of Main and High streets.

"We want a specific kind of mural," Wickham said. "We want it to be historically accurate. We want it to reflect back when Jackson was a burgeoning community at about the turn of the century."

Suggested themes include nostalgic architecture, the Homecomers Festival, rural Missouri life and industry, President Andrew Jackson and historical issues and events.

The competition is open to all artists, both amateur and professional, with no restrictions on age or place of residence.

Wickham said the council already has sent invitations to about 600 artists in the area.

The council will award a $1,000 cash prize for the winning design, Wickham said, but the artwork and responsibility for the mural's upkeep will belong to the city of Jackson and its mural committee.

General Sign Co. will reproduce the winning design in a 15-by-45-foot space on the north wall of the Clabaugh building. The mural will face the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse.

The site chosen is the best and biggest wall suitable for a mural, Wickham said.

Bev Strohmeyer, executive director of the arts council, said the project was a natural for Jackson. "They've got a lot of history, and they don't have any murals over there," she said.

The council hadn't sponsored a mural contest since a Water Street mural in downtown Cape Girardeau 10 years ago, Strohmeyer said.

Deadline for entries is June 24 at 4 p.m. A final decision will be announced June 28.

Mayor Paul Sander said city officials hope the mural will be up on the wall in time for the city's Homecomers Festival in August.

"It'll be interesting to see what people submit," he said.

Wickham said the mural committee is raising funds for the upkeep of the mural and keeping their eyes open for other potential mural sites. "There are other walls in town, and we'll just keep moving it along," he said.

Judging criteria will include artistic merit and originality, suitability for adaptation to the brick-wall surface, historical accuracy and appropriateness for downtown.

The finished mural cannot exceed 15-by-45 feet. Entries must be submitted in a scale of 1 square inch equalling 1 square foot and must be submitted as color entries on heavy paper, illustration board, canvas or Masonite.

Entries should be submitted to the arts council office, 6 N. Sprigg, in Cape Girardeau. They may be mailed, shipped or hand-delivered. For more information call the council at 334-9233.