Downtown Cape Girardeau has everything from food to nightlife and even a view of the Mississippi River. But now the floodwall is getting an upgrade, at least as far as looks go. A team of local artists has started painting a mural project on the floodwall that represents the history of Cape Girardeau.
Cape Girardeau native and freelance artist Craig Thomas said the project has been in the works for many years and was just recently able to finally be put into motion.
“The concept actually started years ago. But about a year ago we really got serious about it and we formed a committee. There was a lot of time getting it put together even after the images were come up with. It's 360 feet of wall, so we had to figure out how big we can make each mural. Then we had to piece them together in a flowing matter with rhythm hopefully and color and balance and stuff like that,” Thomas said.
The murals are dedicated to the history of Cape Girardeau, specifically with a theme of manufacturing and innovation. Many of the pictures focus on products that were once sold in the town or buildings that were in Cape Girardeau.
The portion of the floodwall that is getting the new murals is located near the Century Casino and Hotel. The area is specifically known as the Red Star Neighborhood after the International Shoe Company that used to be in that area, according to the City of Cape. The name Red Star came from the red star logo that was on the shoes that were manufactured at the company.
“If you look at old photographs you'll see some fairly large buildings here and they were all industry,” Thomas said. “So everything is from the past, specifically the 1800s to early 1900s. There are 43 images that are a variety of things. Most of it is from right here by the casino. There was a shoe factory that used to be here. This whole area was called Red Star after the shoe factory."
Thomas has experience working on various projects across Cape Girardeau, including some of the previous murals on the floodwall. Thomas has also had opportunities to work outside of town.
“I’ve done murals across the nation and a couple overseas where I helped with some stuff over there and some street paintings also. In town I've got a few restored murals around here,” Thomas said.
Local business owner and lead painter on the mural project Leah Sparks said her love of art has led to the opportunity to work on the project alongside Thomas.
“I’ve always been super infatuated with art but I've only ever really done it as a hobby. I've worked a lot with painting on canvas and doing lots of different line work and kind of focused on geometry,” Sparks said. “I feel like it's just kind of led me here to this moment where I'm getting to do art that kind of the rest of the community can see.”
Sparks said that the process of painting a mural is quite long and is something that most people don't take into consideration.
“There’s so much skill that really goes into art. Like I had no idea really what all went into painting a mural. It's a lot. There's a lot that goes into it. Definitely something that people probably don't know about the mural. They just come and look and maybe they look for five minutes or something. But this is taking us months of dedication and hard work,” Sparks said
From the various paint colors, images and hard work, Sparks said her favorite part of the project is getting to see the rough sketch of the mural before the paint touches it.
“I like it every time that Craig puts the sketch up on the wall and it's just the bare bones of what the image is going to be. My favorite part is kind of watching the image unfold. Each day that I come back it's like built a little bit more. So that's been really cool,” Sparks said.
Through sun and high temperatures, Thomas and his crew have been painting on the mural project on the floodwall nearly every day since roughly May. With weather permitting, the project is projected to be completed later this year, with hopes for early October before winter hits.
“It's been great. I've really enjoyed the whole thing, and I can't wait to see it all finished,” Sparks said.
