[Press Release] : FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: City's Annual Commemorative Poster Unveiled

[Press Releases]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sarah Dresser
Program Specialist
Office of Cultural Affairs
573-874-6387

City's Annual Commemorative Poster Unveiled

COLUMBIA, MO (September 4, 2015) - COLUMBIA, MO - Columbia has a vibrant cultural history. One of Columbia's finest and most revered musicians and performers was John William "Blind" Boone. For this reason, it seems fitting that the painting titled "Tribute to Blind Boone" by David Spear was selected for this year's Commemorative Poster for the City of Columbia. Unveiled on Thursday, the work was selected from 37 images submitted by 10 mid-Missouri artists through a jury process.

 

Artist David Spear received his BFA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and MFA in painting from University of Missouri-Columbia. As a resident of Columbia since 2000, Spear has works on display throughout the city and has previously collaborated with the Office of Cultural Affairs on works at the Wabash Bus Station, Jefferson Middle School and the traffic signal box on the corner of Broadway and 9th Street. Spear currently works on commissions and illustrations for a variety of clients and is an instructor in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

 

The painting of "Blind" Boone captures the musician known for his extraordinary talents, worldwide fame and endless generosity, who overcame great obstacles and fought through adversities with love and kindness. "It has been said that Boone was a madman on the keys and that sometimes he would play so strong he would destroy pianos," stated the artist, David Spear. "Legend has it that his depiction of nature in the piece ‘The Marshfield Tornado' ensued fear and panic in the audience so much that some ran for cover," noted Spear referring to the tornado depicted in the painting.

 

Spear wished to pay homage to Boone, whose house is located on Fourth Street in downtown Columbia. "Today our city is in the mist of rebuilding his house, which was once a home with an open door and endless melodies. Through our community's historical restoration, we can once again celebrate the life of ‘Blind' Boone and use his legacy as a source of inspiration," said Spear.

 

The Commemorative Poster was unveiled Thursday at the Missouri Theatre. University of Missouri Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin and his wife, Dr. Karin Loftin, hosted this year's Poster Party for the Arts. Funds raised by the event go toward the Columbia Arts Fund, an arts endowment fund established at the Community Foundation of Central Missouri intended to augment annual funding to arts and culture organizations.

 

The 2015 Columbia Commemorative Poster, "Tribute to Blind Boone," can be purchased at Deck the Walls in the Columbia Mall or at the city's Office of Cultural Affairs, 300 S. Providence Road. The city's Commemorative Poster is a program of the City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with the Columbia Daily Tribune and Deck the Walls, with a sponsorship in 2015 from Commerce Bank.

  


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