By Michael W. Michelsen, Jr.
“Tell a man what you want done, but never how to do it. His ingenuity will shock the hell out of you.”
— General George Smith Patton
The last thing General Patton had on his mind when he made that quote was painting hangar doors, but in the town of Prineville, Oregon, that’s precisely what happened when Jeanne Zerbe, the owner of 23 hangars at Prineville Airport (S39), decided to add some color, as well as a little aviation history, to those old, boring doors.
“I started this project when I decided I wanted to add more color to the airport,” Zerbe explained. “I own 23 hangars that could stand a flourish of color. I asked the city if I could have the murals painted and they said no. Later, I decided, hey, they were my hangars, and I was going to do what I wanted to with them.”
Zerbe started with a modest plan to paint two doors. She turned to local artist, Glenn Ness, who she gave the freedom to create what he wanted.
“Glenn has more than 30 years of experience in producing fine art, so I knew I had a winner with him,” Zerbe added.
Zerbe’s only guideline for Ness was to include only American and Allied aircraft from World War II in the final images. For that reason, she provided him with a book about aircraft of this type.
“After I provided that book his imagination really did take off from there,” she said. “I consider myself only the impetus for the project. Glenn was the one who really made it what has became.”
“Glenn got so excited by all the different aircraft and everything he was able to do with the backgrounds of the planes he found it hard to stop. By the time he was halfway through one door, he was thinking of how he was going to do the next one.”
Soon, the original two doors turned into 23 doors and a separate wall at the end of the hangar.
“I have been told more than once the artwork of the aircraft combined with their background is what really makes the murals as dramatic as they are. They really do come to life, which was the real purpose of the whole project,” Zerbe said. “I didn’t just want a bunch of plain airplane pictures. I wanted them to be beautiful as well as to tell a story of an era.”
“The trouble I had with nearly all of the hangars is they are so ordinary, bland even,” Zerbe said. “Once you’ve seen one hangar you’ve pretty much seen them all. You can’t say that about the airport at Prineville now.”
“It would be hard, of course, to call the murals we created great art, but they are impressive, something that was created to have a positive impact on people, especially those who are using our airport,” she continued. “I wanted the artwork to be noticeable and memorable, something the whole community can be proud of.”
In addition to the creative input of Zerbe’s book, the artist also did his own online research of each aircraft he wanted to portray.
“When I started the project, I knew so little about aviation history that it’s not even funny, but between what she provided me and what I was able to find on the internet and other sources, I had a great time with the project,” Ness said. “I make no bones about it. I enjoy my work, but this project was so much fun that it was actually different from most of the other projects I do.”
Initially, Ness used spray paint to apply the background color before he started on the individual aircraft, but concerns were soon expressed over the toxicity of the paint and the impact of the spray on the environment. For those reasons, Ness changed his methods of painting to liquid paint and brushes only.
“The hangar doors I painted for Jeanne was a fun project to do, but it wasn’t easy either,” he noted. “The corrugated doors on each hangar made it difficult because the ridges made straight lines hard to paint. Fortunately, it was just a matter of time and trial and error before I got it right.”
Zerbe is also excited about the end results of the effort.
“This just goes to show that when you give someone instructions and let them alone while they execute them, in most cases, you will be astonished with the result.”
The success of the project was not only clear to Zerbe, but the entire city council, which initially turned down her initial request to create the murals.
After taking more than a year to finish the project, Zerbe invited the entire community to a party celebrating the completion of the project.
“More than 200 people from the area came to the event, and everyone said how happy they were to have these murals in the community,” Zerbe said.
“I hope that years in the future people will look back and remember this effort as being very worthwhile for our community,” she added.
For more information: CityOfPrineville.com/Airport, GlennNess.com
This ideas should be at all airports. An airport picks a theme and paint appropriate aircraft to support the theme. Even include a few with the mural looking as if the aircraft is in the hangar. People will want drive by the airport to see the variety of aircraft which have graced our skies.