Debora Palmer cleans the likeness of a bear on the mural at Dorsey’s Knob. The mural celebrates the history of Native Americans in Mon County.
The mural at Dorsey’s Knob is getting a facelift — but to understand its significance requires a brief history lesson.
Debora Palmer, project coordinator, said that when Ron Justice was mayor of Morgantown, he and a group known as The Friends of Dorsey’s Knob worked to acquire the land for the city to use as a park.
“The land was originally where the Native Americans of Monongalia County resided, and Sky Rock, the iconic rock up there, was a lookout point for Native Americans,” she said.
After Native Americans lost control of the land, it went through a series of owners, at one time being used for farmland.
Around the time it became a city park, Justice asked Palmer if she could do some artwork at Dorsey’s Knob. The old mural came down because the methods used to put it up just weren’t suitable for the wall.
“Enough people called into the city and called into BOPARC and said ‘We miss the mural, can you do something about it?’ ” Palmer said.
About three years ago, BOPARC committed the money and time to have the wall redone with a weatherproof technique so it would last this time.
Working with Bonnie Brown, the chair of Native American studies at West Virginia University, Palmer brought in a Native American storyteller, just as she had during the process of creating the first wall.
Kids at Arts in the Park, a BOPARC program, created clay pieces for the wall. Students at University High School also created pieces for the mural. Work on this mural began last fall.
“We worked until it got too cold, then we covered it up. We started work again in late spring of 2019 and have been working on it throughout the summer,” said Palmer.
She said the mural is getting there. It’s bigger than the original, sitting at 18 panels long and over 70 feet. Glass is being used to create the mosaic.
“It is based on the Native American culture of the area, of the stories and of their culture, so everything on it is derived from that,” she said.
Palmer said there are many moving parts to the mosaic, looking at the history of the land. She said it was the hope of Friends of Dorsey’s Knob all those years ago that the mural reflect the history of the park.
“Over the past year, there have been lots and lots of hands on this. I’m the coordinator of the project but there’s been lots of volunteers who come and work on the project,” she said.
Five of the 18 panels are now finished. Looking into Native American culture, they explained their work with stories about animals.
“In this mural, unlike the first mural, we have a considerable area of corn because we were taught that the three main crops of the Native Americans were called the three sisters — corn, beans and squash — and corn was the most revered,” she said.
Palmer said she thinks it’s always important to know where you came from.
She said the mural is tactile. It focuses on light, reflection and saturation of colors and will draw people in. Palmer firmly believes that public art has an important place in a community.
“This is a monster of a mural. It’s huge. It’s bigger than the original, and it makes a huge impact up there,” she said.
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