Ten-year touch-up

By Krista Tacey-Cater

 

Standing on a ladder, Glenn Dorshimer fills in worn spots of the mural at American Legion Post 106 with primer. He’s been prepping the cinder block wall for days, all in an effort to repaint the mural he originally painted a decade ago. 

 

Dorshimer, 61, Chapel Hill, NC, said he began preparing the wall Aug. 9 and has been working five to eight hours a day since then to start painting. 

 

Ten years ago, Dorshimer, who stays in Grayling during the summer months, said he noticed the mural was falling off the wall and needed a refresh. At that time, Dorshimer said the mural depicted a setting with several war scenes. 

 

“I saved the eagle,” Dorshimer said. 

 

To go along with the large eagle, Dorshimer added a sprawling American flag and the lettering which reads, “American Legion Honoring Veterans.” 

 

“It was a design I could do,” Dorshimer said of the idea he came up with a decade ago. 

 

Now, with the mural in need of a refresh, Dorshimer said he will spend a significant amount of time preparing the wall for repainting as it is crucial that the wall is in a state that will allow the mural to last long into the future. 

 

 

Once the prep work has been completed, he will start the repainting process. He expects the work will be completed by the end of August. 

 

Dorshimer got his start designing murals years ago when he lived in Ann Arbor and noticed a train could have used a new facade. He said the train, an Artrain, a mobile art gallery, had an exhibit called “Romance Transportation,” and with a background in art related to transportation, he designed a mural for it. 

The mural for the train was 450 feet long and was painted on each side, which he said was a large project for his first mural. 

Since then, Dorshimer has created several murals that can be seen in states like Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina. 

 

Over the years, Dorshimer has repainted some of the murals he created years ago. He said he is “really happy” to be able to refresh the American Legion’s mural. His goal is to make it last another decade.