Mural gets splash of color

"Welcome to Cape Girardeau, Mo." proclaims the 320-foot-long mural on the river side of the floodwall. For the past few years, that welcome has looked a bit unenthusiastic.

After 11 years on the wall, sun and high water have worn the paint away completely in a few spots and muted images that were already monochromatic. Now the mural depicting Cape Girardeau's history is being given a facelift, and two artists are adding colors that give the mural much more depth and life.

"It's all going to be in living color," says Leon Heise, one of the painters.

The original mural was much like a line drawing, using blacks and browns and blues in its depiction of such Cape Girardeau landmarks as Academic Hall, Old St. Vincent's Church and historical figures such as keelboat men and an American Indian. A sepia effect, as in an old-fashioned photograph, was the goal.

Gary West, whose sign company is doing the work, likens the effect of adding color to watching the black-and-white beginning of "The Wizard of Oz."

"Then Munchkins come out," he says.

The company began work on the mural about three weeks ago and expects to complete the job in three to four more weeks.

Both West and Heise worked on the original mural. A portrait painter, Heise made sketches of the way the mural could look with seven colors and presented them to the River Heritage Mural Association. The pitch was that the mural would be more realistic.

The Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, the mural association and the Downtown Merchants Association are sharing the $15,000 cost of repainting the mural. The mural association raises money to commission and maintain murals around the city.

Tim Blattner, a spokesman for the mural association, says the mural has an important function. "It's a greeting for the boats that stop at Cape Girardeau. When you're on the boat, hours turn into days and days turn into weeks, and all the river towns begin to look the same.

"With our mural, they know they're passing Cape Girardeau."

The artists are making a few other changes. The depiction of Southeast Missouri Hospital will be changed to represent the additions that have been built in the last 11 years. And a section at the north end of the wall that is supposed to represent the future is being altered to include the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge under construction.

The mural was originally designed by Fred Lincoln, a commercial artist who no longer lives in Cape Girardeau. Other depictions include Cape Girardeau founder Don Louis Lorimier's Red House, St. Francis Medical Center, a riverboat and other forms of transportation.

If people like the mural, Heise said the company will propose repainting the Missouri Wall of Fame on the other side of the floodwall using the same approach.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182