Rep. Steve Hunter (R-Carl Junction) has been hosting an artist day at the Capitol for at least five years now.

“Carthage has a lot of art. So I decided to have them come up here and display, do a tour and feed them lunch to kind of honor them,” Hunter said. “That’s how it got started. But the more people hear about it the more people came. There are people from Sikeston, Monett and Neosho, not just Joplin and Carthage. Last year we had more people from around the state than locals. We’ve had as many as 20 some odd artists up here.”

He said this not only helps the artists by displaying their work, it helps the tourism of southwest Missouri.

“In Carthage, art is a pretty big deal,” Hunter said. “They have the Midwest gathering of artists that started 20 years ago. Carthage has some world-renowned artists that most people don’t even know about, like Bill Snow and Lowell Davis. And there’s a lot of artists there that have taken classes from these people.”

He said the artists also enjoy showing their art at the Capitol.

“It’s a nice place to show,” said Bill Hall, artist from Pineville. “And more that that it’s a nice place to be invited. Not everybody gets invited to the Capitol.”

Currently Hall has pieces on display in the Hawthorne Gallery in Springfield, the Buffalo Bill Museum in Wyoming, the Alterman Gallery in Sante Fe and several other places in the southwest.

The art on display included paintings, clay sculptures, mixed media and watercolors. This year there were 14 artists present displaying their art, including Jed Schlegal of Joplin and April Leiter, daughter of Lowell Davis and native of Carthage.

The showing may only have one more year left because Hunter will be termed out after 2008. But Hunter said he was confident the group would find another sponsor. He mentioned that Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, (R-McDonald County) was a good candidate.