So we went to the KC temple open house thing. It was funny because the host repeatedly ignored one man's question oft repeated after he saw the "instruction" room mural of who painted it. Finally, at the end of the tour the guide said in frustration, "I don't know their name."

It was really bizarre. Why not tell us all that in the mural room?

I knew he was inspired by scenery around him. Build a temple in Missouri but get a Kansas local to paint the "theater" murals. It is sooooo the Morg to spoil something. Instead of making the interior like the Wizard of Oz (which would have been cooler than flat Kansas) they make a temple that looks like The Wizard of Oz's palace and place Kansas in it and we're not even in Kansas!!

Dorthy would be so pleased to know that it felt like home though.

"He is bound by legal contract to not show pictures of the mural, architecture features, symbolism or discuss it’s elements. He said the primary reason is that if that information is released early before an open house, with graphic enhancements so easily performed by so many people today, they could alter the images or text in a negative way, thus dissuading people to attend the temple."

Is this as funny to others as it is to me?

About the Lost 116 pages.

And why would anyone alter the images in a negative way? Does the church fear it has that many enemies?

Yes.

I'm not surprised the guide didn't know anything about the muralist. It wasn't part of the requirements for the calling and it wouldn't have been in the script, because things like that aren't important to the church. I don't imagine ChurchCo, with its self-centered world view, would want to aim the spotlight away from itself or distract visitors/potential suckers with a tangent about some (scoff) artiste. I mean, it's not like the painter is a priesthood leader or anything. He/she was just a vendor, like the guys who installed the carpeting or toilets.

http://www.leonparson.com/

He paints the big ones in a warehouse in private, and then has them moved when the temple construction is done. He also has worked on several older temples to restore their orginal artwork.

Truly strange. When the LA Temple was on public exhibition there was a publication (Improvement Era) that featured all the murals and had pieces of the artists. Additionally strange, I was told that the canvases in the LA Temple were designed to be removable so that the space could be opened up when the monstrous crowds would come through in preparation for the last days.