Paper and Pencils (2014)

Is it hailing larger-than-life pencils? Are those giant airplanes flying through the air? Yes and yes. In this downtown Joplin mural, artist Taylor Kubicek depicts paper airplanes as they grow from a stack of papers and take flight into a growing tempest while a shower of dagger-like pencils bursts down from the sky. This image is Taylor’s metaphor for the lifespan of ideas: they rise up, catch a bit of wind, then transform into winged things that fly toward their intended destination and, when editorial and critical eyes dart down to inspect them, they either make it through or are stricken back down to earth.