Marines and Sherwin-Williams join forces to beautify a
former graffiti target.
Giving back to the community
Marine Week is an annual community awareness event hosted by the Corps in a different city each year. As a lasting reminder of the 2012 event in Cleveland, a team of six Marines led by Staff Sgt. Randy Kirby painted an 8 x 48-foot mural on an abandoned warehouse on East 55th Street and Carnegie Road that had previously been a favorite graffiti target.
Kirby and his crew worked an average of 12 hours a day to complete the mural during the seven-day event. Sherwin-Williams coatings were used throughout the project.
First, Loxon® Conditioner was used to prepare the unpainted brick surface. Next came a coat of Loxon® Primer White, which Kirby said made it easy to outline the mural. The topcoat was SuperPaint® Exterior Acrylic Paint Gloss, mixed in a number of colors from the GSA-issued Federal Standard Color system. DTM Gloss Safety Red was specified for all mural areas of that color
The mural is a visual reminder of how grateful the Corps is for all the Cleveland community has done and will continue to do to support and provide for Marines.
Kirby, a production specialist with Headquarters and Service Battalion at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., and Hanover, Va., native, digitally designed the mural several months before the actual painting, and assembled a team of five other Marines to assist in its completion.
“This mural is a physical reminder of Marine Week,” said Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson. “It really does represent the theme of community, country, Corps and all those things the Marine Corps represents.”