Nebraska Stories: Clay Mural Blues, 304

In this arts profile excerpted from the 2008 NET program, Arts in Nebraska: Next Exit, we feature a husband and wife team of ceramic artists who work out of their home-based studio in North Omaha. The pair is creating a series of 80 ceramic mosaic murals of some of the earliest pioneers in jazz and blues music. The murals are part of an outdoor walk-of-fame display in Richmond, Indiana honoring the artists who recorded for the Starr-Gennett recording company between 1915 and 1935. In this segment, we watch as these artists create and assemble the pieces for the ceramic medallion honoring the music of Blind Lemon Jefferson, an early blues pioneer who reportedly sold more records in the 1920s then nearly any other blues musician of the time.