Stevie�s Steakburger at 600 Broadway is getting a face-lift with the help of Southeast Missouri State University art students.

Jordan Compas, marketing coordinator for Stevie�s Steakburger, said the restaurant is being renovated. It will include a �tweak� to the menus, aesthetic changes to the exterior, an �all new staff,� and a nearly 40-foot mural � �Symbols, Signs, Yours and Mine� � painted on the drive-thru walls by Southeast students. Compas expects the restaurant to reopen in early August.

�We�re just trying to redo Stevie�s completely and make it a place where people want to go to enjoy the food and atmosphere,� she said. �The mural was finished [last] week.�

Compas reached out to Southeast associate professor and exhibitions coordinator Justin Miller, she said, and he agreed to make the mural his summer class project.

�There were 12 students, and they took turns doing it,� she said. �It was just kind of a volunteer work; we just bought the supplies. It was a good learning experience for them.�

Southeast Missouri State University art students, from left, Sara Hoefer, Logan Blankenship, associate professor and exhibitions coordinator Justin Henry Miller, student Nick Jakubeck, Terry Davis, Brendan McGraw , Alyscia Travis, Taylor Holthaus , Michael Copeland , Scott Stuhldreher, Brooke Kuehny, Haile Wilson (Not pictured: student Jessie Bennett) pose with completed mural at Stevie's Steakburger in Cape Girardeau.Submitted by Justin Miller

Miller said he, 11 students and a Southeast alumnus helped to complete the mural in five nonconsecutive days.

An �organic quilt idea� was decided, Miller said, with each student having at least a square, rectangle or cube to work on.

He said the project focused on �using the palette and basic design to unify the piece.�

�It�s very eclectic and I think that�s the fun part of it,� Miller said. �There�s lots going on and lots to see it in.�

The project was coordinated to work with Miller�s painting workshop that ran from the middle of June to last week, he said.

Southeast Missouri State University art students complete a mural at Stevie's Steakburger in Cape Girardeau.Submitted by Justin Miller

�There were a couple days we were just trying to avoid the rain. And there ended up being a couple days where it was pretty humid and muggy out there,� Miller said. �I broke it into two shifts of five to six students. At the very end, we all went out as one group to push it over the edge.�

Miller said the mural did present challenges, such as it being a south-facing wall that catches sun all day. On top of that, he said, it�s on an angle.

Luckily, one of Miller�s students is something of an engineer, he said, who constructed �these great containers� they applied rubber on the bottom of so they could rest on the angle and hold the paint cans.

�Or else, someone would�ve had to literally be there holding the can for somebody while they work,� he said.

The mural evolved as it progressed, Miller said, and Stevie�s Steakburger was �really open to the idea of it being a project for students,� he said.

Southeast Missouri State University art students complete a mural at Stevie's Steakburger in Cape Girardeau.Submitted by Justin Miller

�We might do the other section next summer as a project,� Miller said.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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