The barracks and office space at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Fire Department building recently received new coats of paint and a visual upgrade, but one six-foot by nine-foot section of wall was set aside for fireman Cory Drake.
A dabbling artist and muralist, Drake had plans for the 54-square-foot section of the JBM-HH firehouse. Inspired by a 1918 photograph of Fort Myer firemen, Drake has produced a multi-perspective, impressionist mural that honors past installation firefighters.
"We had a bit of a discussion what to do about a mural if we were going to do one," said Drake, who has been at the JBM-HH Fire Department since March 2003. "The timing was really good because we just repainted the halls here. Every single guy in this outfit had something to do with making the building look a little better and this seems to be where my talents fell."
Drake started the mural in late August after fellow firemen screened old-time photos. Eventually chosen was a World War I-era image featuring two hose men working in front of an American LaFrance Army firetruck.
To add a personal touch to the mural, Drake has added and will continue to add past Fort Myer firefighter names within the mural. Names of former base firemen were unearthed by JBM-HHFD's Alex Galien when he found log books which dated back to the 1940s.
When viewed, the mural reveals different perspectives: From afar, the eyes focus on the overall scene of firefighters in action, but when standing just yards from the art, the names become the focus of the work.
"You can't see the names from the front door," Drake said of his work. "The farther you get down the hall, the names that jump out at you up close, disappear. The first name that jumps out at you is 'Campbell' and he was the fire chief here when this building was built. It stands to reason that his name would be a bit more visible."
As of now, 70 to 80 names have been interlocked within the mural.
But others are also remembered posthumously in Drake's creation. The two individuals handling the hose represent a pair of firefighters who have special significance for the JBM-HHFD crew.
"The guy on the left represents - at least to us - a guy who passed away a couple years ago named Phil Buler who was a fireman here," Drake explained. "The other guy represented in the mural is Chief Mike Thayer who was, prior to Chief [Russell] Miller, the most recent fire chief we had. He passed away from cancer."
While painting the mural, which was done with no brush larger than a half inch, Drake picked off hours to avoid hallway traffic and earth tone colors were selected to give the art a sepia photo look. The colors run many shades of red and brown, and Drake admitted many paper plates were used during color mixing.
"For the choice of the colors, I went with something that made it look like a sepia photo," he said. "I decided to go with shades of brown and red."
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