JAKE WELLS WILL DESIGN NEXT MURAL

A mural design featuring a historic scene has been selected by the Cape Girardeau Bicentennial Committee as the "Bicentennial Mural."

"The design, by Cape Girardeau artist Jake Wells, will appear on the side of a building at Broadway and Fountain," said Tim Blattner, a spokesman for the River Heritage Mural Association, which is sponsoring the mural project. "The Bicentennial Committee recently designated it as its Bicentennial Mural."

The new mural, 40 feet by 22 feet, is the fifth project of the mural association, which has a goal of creating 10 murals in 10 years in Cape Girardeau.

"We have already completed four murals, including the floodwall project last summer," said Blattner. The 340-foot-long river wall mural was partially financed by Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau funds.

Blattner and Wells discussed the mural project during a meeting this week.

"We're financing the new mural by selling prints of the design," said Blattner. "We have a limited addition of 100 prints, 28 by 15 inches, of the design."

Wells, a Cape Girardeau artist who is retired as head of the art department at Southeast Missouri State University, is placing a hand-painted, watercolor remarque in the lower left margin of 50 of the prints.

"A remarque is a small original drawing that is usually placed in the lower left of a print," said Blattner. "The significance of the remarque is that it allows the artist to add personalization to the piece because it is an original drawing."

"Each of the remarques will vary," said Wells. "I used a variation of several designs for the remarques, including a flatboat, paddlewheeler, McKendree Church, raft, flatboat, Common Pleas Courthouse, and river scenes."

"If we sell as many as two-thirds of the total 100 prints, it will cover the cost of the mural," said Blattner. "We hope to get the mural project under way in April of 1992, and it will take about a month to complete it."

Cost of the prints, which are now available, is $250 with remarques, and $175 without the remarque. Additional information concerning the prints is available by contacting Blattner, 334-3288; Wells, 334-1207, or Patty Mulkey, 335-6333.

The original painting of the mural has been donated by Wells to the River Heritage Museum.

Wells describes the scene and how he came up with the design.

"We wanted a historical scene," he said. "We want to point out, however, that the pictorial symbols used in the design are not 100 percent accurate in terms of hard, historical facts. It is made up of fact, fiction, and romanticized ideas combined in an understandable and aesthetically acceptable way."

In the upper left portion of the mural, a red building represents Louis Lorimier's "Red House" which stood in the area near the site of the present day St. Vincent's Church, noted Wells.

To the right of the "Red House" are three large figures portraying Lorimier's wife, as well as Lorimier and Barthelemi Cousin. "Lorimier's first wife was Charlotte Pemanpieh Bougainville, a "half-blood Shawnee," said Wells. "Her presence in the design represents Lorimier's influence and rapport with the Shawnees."

The scroll Lorimier holds in his right hand represents authority granted him by the Spanish Crown to govern the Cape Girardeau District, added Wells. Cousin acted as Lorimier's secretary, interpreter and was a deputy surveyor for the district. The book and writing implement in his hands are indicators of his role in the district.

Wells said a large central tree with light trunk and dark foliage in the mural is simply a design device. "It separates the two primary figure groups and provides a background against which these figures are displayed."

The figures to the right of the tree trunk, said Wells, are a "coureur de bois," Jean B. Girardot, and an Indian.

"The coureur de bois, a sort of trader, moved regularly among settlements, Indian villages and hunting and trapping grounds on both sides of the Mississippi River," said Wells. "They were a colorful and vital part of the pioneer community."

Girardot was an ensign of the French marines stationed at Kaskaskia in the early 1700s. It is thought that Girardot came to the west side of the Mississippi River and lived in a wooded area that jutted into the river north of the present site of Cape Girardeau.

"The area to the right and behind the Girardot group is supposed to represent one-time Cape Rock, where Girardot's trading post was located," said Wells. "Smaller figures and objects are to support this concept."

He added that the three silhouette figures at the lower left of the mural represent development at a later date. The figure at the extreme left is meant to represent Louis Houck.

Silhouette figures on the lower right of the mural are meant to represent immigration into the district, said Wells. The Spanish and French flags rise from the lower center of the mural.