A PAINTED HISTORY Twenty years ago (give or take a year or two) Cushing was the hot spot for a mural painting crew. Bob Palmer and students from UCO descended on the town and painted several murals.
by ALLISON ELDREDGE
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R. Palmer is the owner of Palmer Studios LLC: Murals & More. His work is displayed in the book Painting Oklahoma and Beyond. Check out Red Dirt Gallery on Facebook. His gallery is in Wellston, OK. That summer when Bob and his students arrived to paint a mural on the side of Opal’s at 113 W. Broadway, his intention was to paint a mural of a watering hole. Before he started this project, Dale Gillespie entered into the picture. Dale is the owner of several Studebaker automobiles. Dale had a different idea for the mural. Bob said that out of 4500+ murals that he has painted, only one was ever changed from his original vision….and Dale is the reason this one changed. Dale’s view was for a mural of old cars on Broadway with the old store fronts of Cushing. He offered his cars as models. He told Bob that if he couldn’t drive them there to be models that he would bring pictures. And that is what he did. The Mural is a wonderful piece containing old cars and trucks, a tractor, storefronts and brick streets. The far end of the mural was damaged by an
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