“I Am Joplin” Mural

This mural voted on at For the Love of Cities workshop in May 2013, is a community-centric piece of public art. To jump-start the project, Art Feeds received a $500 grant from the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri. The additional $3,000 needed to realize the project was raised through crowd-funding in a mere three days! 300+ photos were taken by Kevin Deems Photography and then printed on aluminum panels with the help of Images in Tile USA creating a 39×16 foot mural.

Update:

“Last month [April 2022], the 52 aluminum panels that composed the photo composite mural were removed after its wooden framework became badly deteriorated.

“It was a public hazard,” said Paul Whitehill of Whitehill Enterprises, which installed both the mural and the new outdoor gallery, which features four frames for displaying vinyl canvas artwork.

The 12- by 39-foot “I Am Joplin” mural was organized and produced in 2013 by Art Feeds, a nonprofit children’s art education group. It was made up of panels with 12 black and white photos on each — 300 photos in all — featuring residents holding small chalkboards with inspirational messages — “I am blessed,” “I am strong,” “I am hardworking,” among them. Atop the mural was a large message, “I Am Joplin.”

Read morehttps://www.joplinglobe.com/news/lifestyles/marta-churchwell-iconic-i-am-joplin-mural-moving-to-new-location/article_2c459610-ca39-11ec-8449-3faf4b4cad32.html