This Saturday, Itta Bena’s old City Hall will finally be decorated with four arched murals designed and painted by Mississippi Valley State University art students.
“It feels great. We’ve worked over a year on this,” said Spence Townsend, an assistant professor of art at MVSU, who helped with the project.
Beginning at 9 a.m., at Old City Hall, located across from Hope Credit Union, 120 Humphreys St., workers will begin to install the murals.
Around lunchtime, a ceremony will be held at the L.T. Brazil Center, where the MVSU art students will be recognized and a check will be presented to the university’s fine arts department.
In November 2018, the city of Itta Bena received a $2,000 grant from Hope Credit Union, a nonprofit federal credit union that operates several branches in the Deep South.
Thelma Collins, a former mayor of Itta Bena, worked on the grant proposal. She also worked with Mildred Miller and JoAnn Purnell from the Board of Aldermen as well as other Itta Bena residents and MVSU.
Townsend was tasked with putting out a call for any interested MVSU students to assist with the project.
Two of the four public art murals designed by Mississippi Valley State University art students that will be installed on Itta Bena’s old city hall include a rendering of B.B. King, the blues guitarist, and a scene inspired by “Home in the Woods,” the English translation of the Choctaw phrase “Itta Bena.”
Primarily four to six students designed the murals, Townsend said. Ultimately, 12 to 15 students, including the designers, painted and primed the murals. Each mural measures 8 feet by 10 feet and incorporates a design representative of Itta Bena.
The other two of the four public art murals feature civil rights protestors in front of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church and the school mascots for Mississippi Valley State University and Leflore County High School.
One draws on “Home in the Woods,” the English translation of the name “Itta Bena” from the Choctaw language, by depicting a red cabin surrounded by nature.
A second mural shows a smiling B.B. King, the legendary blues guitarist who was born in Berclair. Behind King in the mural is Roebuck Lake.
A third mural features civil rights protesters standing in front of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church.
A fourth mural features mascots for MVSU and Leflore County High School.
Underneath each mural will be one panel featuring the “Home in the Woods” translation.
The process of creating public art on a large scale was a significant learning process for the students, Townsend said.
Townsend and his students had numerous meetings with the city to get suggestions on the design of the murals.
The students also learned how to apply a concept design on a bigger scale, Townsend said.
Public art “beautifies the space,” Townsend said. “I think it has a positive impact on people that are going to be living in the city and seeing it every day.”
In addition to beautification with the presence of the murals, there are two other goals — to spur further positive contributions in downtown Itta Bena, which has some blighted properties, and to strengthen the partnership between Itta Bena and MVSU.
“I think the whole point is to just build some momentum in the city,” Townsend said.
•Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
