Artist Gary Glenn left his mark with Lansing murals

It’s been nearly 10 years since local artist Gary Glenn died. Glenn, who owned Artrageous Studio on Cedar Street, was noted for his custom art on automobiles and had worked on vehicles and motorcycles for Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky III” and cars for Evel Knievel and Paul Newman when he lived in California.

Glenn, a Lansing native, operated Glenn’s Signs Service until moving to California in 1976. He returned to Lansing in the 1990s, leaving his mark with murals. One, in Old Town, is long gone, but his murals can still be seen in the entrance to Falsetta’s Casa Nova on South Waverly Road, a 14-by-38-foot mural at the old DeLuca’s restaurant on Willow Street and also one at the back of a car wash on South Waverly.

In the mid-1970s, Glenn became noted for painting murals on the sides of vans. He showcased 11 of them at a 1974 Lansing Mall show. Glenn began painting vehicles in the era when custom hot rods sported pin striping and jutting flames. In 1970, a 1923 Chevy Roadster with a candy green finish that he owned won the best of class at a Rod and Custom Car show at the Lansing Civic Center.