January 8, 2021

Blytheville’s Main Street received an artistic touch Dec. 5 after the Blytheville greeting card mural was completed at the pocket park. The project was completed at no cost to the city, according to Blytheville’s Park and Recreation director Cody Slay, thanks to the sponsorship of Nucor-Yamato Steel. It was also printed and installed by Hinson Signs directly onto metal to ensure its longevity...

By Revis Blaylock and Marcus McClain | NEA Town Courier
story image illustation

Blytheville’s Main Street received an artistic touch Dec. 5 after the Blytheville greeting card mural was completed at the pocket park.

The project was completed at no cost to the city, according to Blytheville’s Park and Recreation director Cody Slay, thanks to the sponsorship of Nucor-Yamato Steel. It was also printed and installed by Hinson Signs directly onto metal to ensure its longevity.

The mural displays landmarks from the Blytheville community within each letter. With the help of Armorel’s Education Accelerated with Service and Technology lab, there will also be QR codes placed under each letter, giving the exact location of each landmark for visitors and tourists.

  Landmarks such as Arkansas Northeastern College, the Eaker Air Force Base and the Mississippi County courthouse are all included within the mural.

The greeting card mural started with a concept in the mind of Slay who wanted to draw people downtown.

Since Blytheville is a steel community, Slay had the idea of creating a mural made from metal, with each letter of Blytheville featuring artwork depicting attractions in the area.

She shared her idea with Mayor James Sanders who gave her the green light to move forward with the project.

Several hands joined in the project including sponsor Nucor-Yamato who agreed to pay for the project in its entirety.

“I had the idea but I needed an artist,” Slay said. “I found a talented young student at Armorel, Grayson Seibert.”

The designs for each letter was completed by Seibert, a junior at Armorel High School who developed his passion for design and architecture in the school’s EAST program. Siebert entered the program in the seventh grade where he became familiar with Sketchup, a 3D modeling computer program.

After working with different businesses on Main Street in the past as well and also with Slay on other city beautifying efforts, Seibert had already built the rapport needed to be awarded the opportunity to work on this project.

  “Cody contacted me at the beginning of [last year] and she pretty much already had the idea for each letter thought out,” Seibert said. “It was a long process of getting it designed because Cody wanted each letter to be pretty precise. We probably sent each letter back and forth about 10 times making different changes and enhancements to it.”

  After the lengthy process of completing the project, also due to delays brought by COVID-19, Seibert is grateful and excited to know his work will be a part of the Blytheville community for years to come.

  “I just think it’s really cool that I get to be a part of something that will probably be there for the next 20 or 30 years. I think as a junior in high school and having your art displayed downtown where everyone can see it is just really cool.”

  The EAST program has introduced Seibert to many other computer application softwares that he plans to continue pursuing in college as an architecture major in the coming years.

  “Over time, I’ve just gotten more and more into different programs like Photoshop and Illustrator, learning how to use those along the way,” Seibert said.”That’s how I’ve gotten into more graphic design aspects and illustrations.”

Slay said he did an excellent job making a digital rendering at the beginning of the process.

“When I took the plans to Hinson Sign Company, he (Dale Hinson) said they would do the work at cost and donated their labor,” she said.

Slay also thanked the Copeland family who owns the Palace Ayers building for helping make the project happen.

Plans were to have the project completed earlier in the year but delays were caused by Covid-19. Slay said the project turned out beautiful and the letters were placed on the building Jan. 5.

“The images are directly on the metal and will last a very, very long time,” Slay said. “We received a lot of good comments the first day.”

Each letter displays pictures and will have QR Code cards placed  underneath each one.  Visitors will be able to access the exact location of each sight displayed on the letter using their cell phones.

Pictures on the letters offer a tribute to:

B: The historic Greyhound Bus Station;

L: Is a tribute to the sponsor, Nucor Yamato;

Y: Downtown Blytheville with the arch featured;

T: Mississippi County Courthouse;

H: Lights of the Delta;

E: The Ritz Theater;

V: Tribute to Agriculture, Mississippi River and its beautiful sunsets;

I: The water tower;

L: Alert Pad at the Arkansas Aeroplex and future museum;

L: Thunder Bayou Golf Links;

E: Arkansas Northeastern College (ANC).

The park features several benches, a fountain and a pavilion.

“We hope this promotes tourism,” Slay said.

“The East Lab at Armorel is creating the QR code pads for each letter. As the weather permits we will be doing pressure washing, planting flowers and working on the park to make it more attractive. Because it is a historic area we can’t paint on the brick so we had to get a little creative on the mural.”

Slay expressed her appreciation to everyone who shared in making the project a success.

She hopes to have a ribbon cutting to officially thank everyone who helped turn an idea into a reality.

Advertisement
Advertisement