Well known surrealist painter Salvador Dali said, “A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.” In our world today we are surrounded by visual arts, whether it’s a mural painted in a small town downtown or advertisements that flash across our television screens. Art surrounds us. It inspires us. It provides beauty to a world that can be confusing.

One local artist is sharing her talents to beautify the community. Elizabeth Wallsmith was born and raised in Oklahoma in the Tulsa area, but currently is an art teacher at Monett High School. After completing her degree in art education at Pittsburg State University, she continued her education and has earned a master’s degree also in art education. Her first years teaching were at Carl Junction Junior High. In her time teaching at Carl Junction Junior High, Wallsmith was awarded the Junior High Teacher of the Year award in 2015 and the Joplin Globe Teacher Hoot Award in 2014.



Every artist has someone who inspired them to pursue the study and practice of art. For Wallsmith, that was her father who was an artist in downtown Tulsa. “I watched as he created inspiring pieces, works that awakened a desire to tap into my own artistic ability,” Wallsmith said. “Today, I strive for my work to show my unique style and my love for creating art.” Wallsmith creates art using the mediums of pottery, glass art, and acrylic and watercolor painting.

The thing Wallsmith enjoys as much as creating art is teaching it. “I love teaching art,” Wallsmith said. “For me, teaching becomes an art form, and the reward is in watching my students develop their own artistic style, while learning to express their voice through art. Art plays an essential role in defining who we are.”

In her work as an artist, Wallsmith has been able to share her talents in many places in the four-state area. These include a fish sculpture painting at Fuzzy’s Tacos in Overland Park, Kansas; a mural at 5^th and Broadway in downtown Pittsburg, Kansas; a “larger than life” coal bucket decorated for the SEK Art Festival currently located at Pinamonti Orthodontics in Pittsburg, Kansas; and previous exhibits in the Downtown Joplin Arts Walks and in local shows and the art galleries Art Central and Spiva Center for the Arts.

A project Wallsmith is proud of is a mural she recently completed in downtown Neosho. In July 2020, the Neosho Arts Council put an “all call” out seeking artists’ mural submissions to paint two buildings at the Scenic Park on Main Street. “I put in a bid and submission showing my design and cost,” Wallsmith said. “My submission was selected, but due to COVID, the project was put on hold until June 2021.

This summer Wallsmith spent over 200 hours completing the mural project. “As the artist, I wanted to showcase local flora and nature throughout the theme of each building,” Wallsmith said describing her mural. “I included local plants inspired by the community that is now for the ‘Largest Flower Box.’ I painted larger than life flowers and animals to make the mural inviting and fun to look at since it is at a park with playgrounds.”

Wallsmith’s mural titled “Nature’s Treasures” is a single mural spanning two buildings. With a focus on nature and the celebration of Missouri’s bicentennial, Wallsmith incorporated in the mural specific details native to Missouri. “The mural includes rudbuckia, known as the coneflower in Missouri; the honey bee, which became the Missouri official state insect in 1985; the three-toed box turtle is the Missouri state reptile; and the Neosho dogwood trees.” Those elements of the mural and others can be found by visitors to the park and playground.

The Neosho Arts Council has published a coloring book that includes drawings from Wallsmith’s mural, which can be purchased for $5.00. Proceeds from coloring book sales go toward the restoration of Thomas Hart Benton’s murals in the area. More information can be found at www.neoshoarts.net.

Outside of the honor of providing the mural in Neosho, Wallsmith has won numerous awards and been chosen to contribute to art festivals for her paintings and sculptures throughout southwest Missouri. For anyone interesting in exploring the arts, Wallsmith said, “Go for it! Never give up. Create art because you like to. Don’t allow the opinion of others to determine whether you create art or not.”

Wallsmith has also used her artistic talents and role as a teacher to raise funds and awareness for charitable organizations. “Using art to influence, impact, and inspire others allowed me to stay active as an artist to serve my community through art,” Wallsmith said. “My students have raised funds through their espresso paintings for the SEK Humane society, collected canned goods during an Andy Warhol assignment for a local food pantry, and decorated over twelve hammers for the Hearts for Hammers project, a fundraiser that supported Joplin in rebuilding five new homes destroyed by the 2011 tornado. In 2014, my junior high art students made over 150 bowls out of clay that were sold at an event called Empty Bowls, which was a fundraiser for local food pantries and homeless shelters in the Joplin area.”