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'My art goes to the people': Artist aims to help Concordia become 'Patriotic Mural City of Missouri'

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Posted at 7:33 AM, Jul 03, 2024

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's time to pause and celebrate our nation's history. Time to look back and acknowledge all we've done and been through.

Concordia, Missouri, is doing that on a large scale — through murals.

The Lions Club of Concordia is branding the town as the patriotic mural city of Missouri, thanks to the help of one muralist.

Ray Harvey has painted about 600 murals on the side of buildings in small Missouri towns.

"My big-scale murals that are anywhere from 50 to 100 feet wide, maybe four, five stories tall, so the scale is huge," Harvey said.

Ray Harvey
Ray Harvey patriotic muralist

He said his work gives small towns a big voice.

"I like that my art goes to the people," he said. "When one small town sees what I'm doing, they want something too."

Ray Harvey muralist
Ray Harvey patriotic muralist

Harvey said he'll create 10-12 murals in Concordia, but at the time he spoke with KSHB 41 News, he was in the process of completing his sixth.

"When I sign a mural, a finished mural, it's not for notoriety. It's to say I approve it, I did the best job I could, and it's at that time I hand it over to the community. Concordia it's yours," he said.