Weathering and storm damage from this summer contributed to segments of peeling paint on the mural at the corner of Main Street and Third Street in Marshall. Factors like artists’ copyright and planned renovations at the building all raise questions on how or if the mural can be repaired, said Marshall resident Jim Swartz. Swartz was involved in some past work to repair parts of the mural.

MARSHALL — Over the years, the elements have taken their toll on murals on buildings in downtown Marshall. At the corner of Main and Third Street, artwork celebrating Marshall area history has sections of peeling or missing paint, while some panels of the image are gone.

A lot of the damage was done by severe weather over the summer, said Marshall resident Jim Swartz.

“The biggest thing is the act of God, that storm,” he said. Swartz has been involved with efforts to try and repair the mural, which was made of painted fabric attached to cement board panels. “It really took a lot of the painted covering off the cement board,” Swartz said.

Building owner Dereck Deutz said that after the storm, he was able to save the painted fabric from damaged portions of the mural. But Swartz said talks about repairing the artwork are “in limbo,” partly because of plans to renovate the building the mural is installed on. “We were waiting to see what was happening” with the building, Swartz said.

This week, Deutz said he was waiting on a contractor bid for a planned project at his business, Columbia Imports. Part of the renovations would include adding windows on the Third Street side of the building, he said.

Other downtown artworks have also been weathered since they were first installed. The music-themed mural at the corner of Main and Fourth Street was painted on the building wall in 2011. In 2023, the city hired the original mural artist to touch up areas where the paint was damaged, said Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson.

The third downtown artwork, the “Spirit of Sport” mural on the side of the Varsity Pub building at Main Street and College Drive, has fading colors from sun exposure. The mural image, a reproduction of a painting by Southwest Minnesota State University alumnus Terrence Fogarty, is printed on vinyl-like material and hung on the wall.

When the mural was commissioned, the city received two copies of the print. The first copy was installed in 2014, and faded over time. It was replaced with the second copy in 2021, but the replacement has also started to fade.

Hanson said there have been past attempts to touch up damaged areas of the Third Street mural, which was installed in 2011. She said the city provided a lift and fasteners, and Swartz re-fastened loose cement fiber boards supporting the mural.

When the Third Street mural was installed in 2011, the city of Marshall and the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council agreed to be responsible for its maintenance and restoration for a period of 10 years. The text of the agreement said there would be a possibility for renewal after the 10-year period was up. Hanson said there is not currently a maintenance agreement in place for the mural.

When it comes to repairing the Third Street artwork, “it gets complicated,” Swartz said. The artists who created the mural have copyright to the artwork, he said. Part of the artist’s agreement for the project, signed in 2011, also gives the artists the right of first refusal to make repairs or alterations to the mural.

Swartz said he had reached out to the original artists of the Third Street mural about possible repairs, about a year and a half ago.

“We were trying to work out something with one of the artists, if they were able to help with the restoration,” Swartz said.

Deutz said he had talked with Swartz about the possibility of repairing the mural. However, there were still uncertainties about whether the artwork would need to be modified because of planned building renovations, Swartz said.

Hanson said that the maintenance needs for the three downtown murals raised some future planning questions for public art projects. The future of the sports mural on the Varsity Pub building is something that needed discussion, Hanson said. “I think we should discuss if there should be public art there,” and how to help make sure that public artworks are successful in the long term, she said.