Shelbyville

SHELBYVILLE — The first UT mural of 2026 found its home on the side of the Bedford County Extension office building, marking county No. 69 in UT System’s statewide mural campaign.  

The mural came to Bedford County after Matthew Bruce Deist (Knoxville ’21), Extension agent and county director, pitched the Extension office as the next canvas. Visible to an estimated 1,288 passersby each day, the mural is one of 76 painted across Tennessee. The campaign aims to place a mural in all 95 Tennessee counties by 2030, with UT funding the first mural in each county and donors supporting additional murals statewide.  

Deist hopes the artwork reminds passersby that UT Extension is a resource for residents.  

“I want people to know that we, in the Extension office, truly are here to help address the needs that they have,” Deist said. “We can give them information that they can actually take and implement — on their farms, at their homes, in the schools — that will help them better their lives in a tangible way.”  

UT Extension provides research-based education in agriculture, youth development, and family and consumer sciences. Deist said their work ranges from helping young people build confidence through 4-H to offering data-driven agricultural recommendations as well as health and wellness programming to aid families.   

Deist’s path to Extension was shaped by family influence and firsthand experience. His father-in-law, Mitchell Mote, worked for Rutherford County Extension for many years, and Deist’s sister-in-law, Emily Wooten (Knoxville ’25), also works for UT Extension. Deist previously served in Marion and Franklin counties before moving to Bedford County.  

“I really do believe in our mission to assess needs and address them, and then teach people about them,” Deist said.  

Deist earned a master’s degree in agricultural leadership, education and communication from UT Knoxville, building on a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University. He was the first in his immediate family to earn a bachelor’s degree and the only person in his extended family to complete a master’s program.  

“What that degree conferred was that you as a student are able to open your mind to these other ideas, do some critical thinking, evaluate ideas, report back on them, be able to approach something in an unbiased way and then pass that information on,” he said. “That really helped me to do that here in Extension.”  

For Deist, the mural represents how Extension carries the university’s mission into communities across Tennessee.  

“We’re the local outreach unit,” he said. “We offer education opportunities that address specific needs in the community, with the unbiased kind of approach the university is known for. Our goal is that we do such a good job that we build on the university’s already great reputation in the county.”