For the second straight year, students in a special project class at the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith received a unique opportunity to apply their artistic learnings by joining street artists from across the globe in painting murals in downtown Fort Smith.
Eleven students in Bryan Alexis鈥檚 mural painting class spent a week painting a sprawling mural across the side of The Blue Lion at 妻友社区 Downtown, a music venue owned by 妻友社区, as part of The Unexpected, a 10 day arts and culture initiative in downtown Fort Smith.
Beginning with a projection on the building鈥檚 northern wall, students traced the outline of the mural鈥檚 design onto the brick before 鈥渁ttacking鈥� the wall with paintbrushes, filling in the outline with bright reds, yellows and blues.
鈥淟ittle by little, it all comes together,鈥� Alexis said.
Given the building鈥檚 musical roots, the mural鈥檚 design was centered around Fort Smith music legend Alphonso Trent.
鈥淏ecause of the rich ties to music, I immediately went to, 鈥榃ho鈥檚 famous in Fort Smith that was also a musician?鈥� Somewhere down in the search, I found Alphonso Trent,鈥� Alexis said. 鈥淗e was one of the first African American bandleaders who paved the way for artists such as Duke Ellington. He was doing it first, back in the mid-twenties.鈥�
The result was a stylized portrait of Trent surrounded by colorful renditions of various jazz instruments arranged across the length of the wall.
The mural is also a rare opportunity for students to leave a lasting impact on the city鈥檚 downtown area.
鈥淏eing able to paint a mural like this and meeting different artists from around the world, you really don鈥檛 get that opportunity at any other school really,鈥� said Ashley Khakeo of Fort Smith, a student in the class. 鈥淏eing in Fort Smith, we never thought we鈥檇 have a chance to be a part of something like this.鈥�
Alexis agreed, calling the opportunity 鈥渁n experience like none other.鈥�
鈥淭he students are learning by doing, and it鈥檚 something they can immediately apply and use in their career,鈥� Alexis said. 鈥淭he students from last year are already getting jobs painting murals around the area. We鈥檙e driving economy, we鈥檙e driving creativity, we鈥檙e driving the artistic elevation of the region, and that鈥檚 coming from this class. Who could ask for anything more than that?鈥�
Students who painted the mural were:
Alma: Nathan Meyers.
Charleston: Laney Taggart.
Fort Smith: Riley Casher, Brent Cherry, Josh Hendricks, Ashley Khakeo, Kit Ngo and Tien Pham.
Mena: Amber Lane.
Mansfield: Karolyn Manas.
Rudy: Eden Martin.
For more information about the university鈥檚 studio art program, visit .