Artist: Alison Beam-Hindman

Project Title: Grissom Memorial Elementary School

Location: Grissom Elementary at Macedonia crosswalk

Project Statement: I would like the children in my neighborhood to know for whom Grissom Memorial Elementary School was named. I was young when NASA was created, and I saw the early space program grow into a marvel. I watched the Mercury astronauts train and the Apollo astronauts go to the moon. I grieved when three astronauts were killed training for Apollo 1. One of those brave astronauts was Purdue graduate, Lt. Col. Virgil “Gus” Grissom. There are many schools named in his memory, especially in Indiana, but only one in Muncie. In reading their web site, I saw one reference to Grissom and that was on the outside wall. Many children hit the big button on the traffic box to cross Macedonia, but do they even know about the hero whose name the school bears? I’d like to “teach” them by rendering a likeness of the astronaut in his space suit plus the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle that propelled him into becoming the second American in space.

Artist Bio: Alison Beam-Hindman has been a member of the Muncie Artists Guild since 2015. Originally from Northwest Indiana, Beam-Hindman took two advertising art courses as electives at Purdue University North Central in 1977 but didn’t start painting seriously until retirement from Ivy Tech Community College East Central in 2008. Her lifelong interest in space science inspires much of her work, and she has been influenced by space artists such as Chesley Bonestell and Alan Bean. Beam-Hindman, who strives to be an Astro-artist, has been a member of the Muncie Astronomy Club since 2000 and is active in the Club’s community outreach on science education. Regarding her work, she says, “I Paint the Stars.”