Volunteers to revamp city’s ‘gateway’ mural

A growing group of volunteers will soon put fresh paint to Waynesboro’s 20-year-old “gateway” mural on Route 250, but the hardest part of the project — getting permission — is already complete.

After a bad bout of phone tag and discussion with five government and civic agencies, local tourist and art center volunteer Ron Hiserman got the mural go-ahead from Buckingham Branch Railroad.

Twenty years ago this summer, the East Augusta Chamber of Commerce asked artist Mark Cline to design and paint a mural at the train bridge east of Waynesboro.

“To beef up and clean up that part of town,” Cline said of their intentions. “They just said come up with something. ... It was basically a labor of love.”

According to Cline:

The eastbound lane is “Peace in Virginia,” depicting agriculture. The westbound lane is “Piece in Virginia,” designed like a puzzle and populated by local wildlife such as bears and deer. Also featured are the “five fingers of God,” representing the diversity of human races, and colors for each season.

The mural is fading, and vandals tag it with typical graffiti — names, profanity and phallic shapes. A group of high school students refreshed its colors 10 years ago, and volunteers say it’s time again.

“It really is the gateway to Waynesboro,” said Piper Groves, executive director of Shenandoah Valley Art Center, which will offer project support.

“Tons of people do see it,” Waynesboro Tourism Director Lianne Crookshanks said. “It’s our own unique piece of public art.”

Sparked by Cline’s elephant display on the city’s capped landfill, which went up April 1, Hiserman got in touch with the Waynesboro-born artist about his old mural.

Before the elephant unveiling, Cline had not worked on a city project since the 1989 mural. He gained statewide attention in 1987 when he proposed construction of a 60-foot-tall bust of the city’s namesake, Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne, on the landfill.

Cline gave Hiserman the OK, setting in motion the hunt for permission. Hiserman started with the chamber of commerce.

“They don’t know anything about it,” he said.

Then Augusta County officials, who sent him to the Virginia Department of Transportation. He put Crookshanks on the case too, before Buckingham Branch Railroad approved last week.

Hiserman is still chatting up volunteers and recently secured a paint donation from Burt’s Painting and Wallpaper. The revamp should begin this month.

For Cline, it will be a refreshed symbol of his dedication to “sprucing up” Virginia. In seventh grade, long before launching a career making murals, amusement park monsters and public sculptures, Cline submitted a design to a “Spruce Up Virginia” campaign.

He’s still sprucing. And for now, Cline’s elephant display also remains in Waynesboro while city officials mull a longterm extension.