Destroyed Dolly Parton Mural Gets Reconstructed After Artist Finishes Work In Downtown Knoxville

Apr 27, 2020 by apost team

A defaced mural in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee has been fixed back to its former glory this week thanks to a local artist named Megan Lingerfelt. The mural that depicts the gorgeous country legend Dolly Parton was vandalized with a pair of black lips but her original makeup has now returned, along with some additional changes.

The mural was originally painted by Colton Valentine, an artist who was passing through Knoxville last April according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. However, since he lived too far away to return to town and fix the mural, a local organization stepped in called Dogwood Arts and hired Lingerfelt to complete the job.

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She immediately set to work on researching Dolly's signature look and selected the right hair and accessories that would go with her style. The artist also decided to add a gorgeous butterfly to the mural. She described her process in a statement on the Dogwood Arts website:

"Working on this scale, at least for me, is not a one day project.  It was important however to cover the graffiti asap.  So in the first couple of hours I painted over the black lips and then began working on other elements of the mural," said  artist Megan Lingerfelt. "Rendering an image this size is a process: add a bit here, lighten up this, move that a bit to the left…nothing is really done until it’s DONE."

Although the alley is somewhat known for graffiti and tagging, it was a shame that the public art projects were targeted. To avoid the problem in the future, WBIR reports that Dolly is now going to be covered in anti-graffiti paint.

See more of the artist's process in the video below:

What do you think of the new additions and changes to the Dolly Parton mural? Let us know what you think and pass this on to the Dolly fan in your life, they would love to see it.