Posted: Sep. 29, 2020 1:48 pm Updated: Sep. 29, 2020 3:21 pm
HANNIBAL | Ray Harvey, of Ray Harvey Art, is bringing a new mural to a wall of the Hannibal History Museum in downtown Hannibal.
The design depicts a railroad scene from the 1890s when the original train depot existed. “We have the history of the scene and everybody loves trains, so you can’t really go wrong. That was basically the idea of how we got started on it and why I designed it,” Harvey said.
The mural was commissioned by a Hannibal native who lives out of state but still wants to see art in Hannibal flourish.
Murals are scattered throughout Hannibal for community members and visitors to enjoy. “It has to be an interactive design of some sort. It has to be the kind of thing that someone would want to get their picture taken in front of, or get involved in the scene,” Harvey said.
“They’re very shareworthy, so people will post them on social media and it adds something great not only to visitors that are here taking a trip to Hannibal, but also really brightening up the town, using these buildings as a landscape for this great art,” said Megan Rapp, assistant director at the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Harvey, 62, from New Haven, Mo., has completed more than 500 murals in his career — several of which are on buildings in Hannibal.
The local mural that captured the most attention involved the east-facing exterior wall of Hannibal City Hall. Harvey started work on that mural last year and completed it this spring. The massive painting depicts Hannibal’s Mark Twain and Molly Brown, along with Twain’s literary character’s including a boy in the fishing attire of the 1800s and Jim, the run-away slave from the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, using a pole to move a raft on the river. A steamboat and a stone bluff also appear in the mural.
More than $15,000 was donated online by individuals and companies to cover costs of the city hall mural, so that the city did not have to use taxpayer dollars.
To help people find the art and murals in town, a card has been created by the HCVB, listing the different paintings and locations.
“We know people love them, so we decided to make a quick rack card that has the addresses so when people are walking around downtown, they can make sure to see all of them,” Rapp said.
The list of mural and art locations can be found at the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as local businesses including Java Jive and the Mark Twain Dinette.