New-look manhole covers bring a touch of art to Calgary streets
Calgary’s latest public art project came to life Saturday as three new manhole cover designs were unveiled at Prince’s Island Park.
Three artists were selected through the city’s public art program to revamp the look of manholes for each of Calgary water systems — drinking, storm and waste.
The first of the new covers are already in place around Eau Claire Market, and Randy Niessen, public art project co-ordinator with the city, said the new designs will start showing up across Calgary as the city replaces covers at the end of their life cycle.
“They do about 2,000 cover replacements a year, so they’ll be on an as-needed basis depending on whether a cover needs to be replaced,” Niessen said.
The city maintains some 200,000 manholes.
On Saturday, the city partnered with the Alberta Printmakers’ Society to celebrate the new covers at an interactive art event in Prince’s Island Park.
Volunteers used the covers and ink to print the artists’ design on T-shirts and tote bags, an idea Niessen said came from seeing viral videos of other cities getting creative with their manhole covers.
“We thought this would be a good opportunity to celebrate the new covers, get people to kind of connect with them and take something home that represented the project,” Niessen said.
Mary Haasdyk, who normally creates illustrations and digital prints, came up with the new drinking-water system manhole covers and said she enjoyed working on the project, which combined creativity with practicality.
“It’s really special to be part of this project,” Haasdyk said. “To be able to contribute to the city and the community I’m a part of is really special.
“I definitely have a much bigger appreciation for the water system in this city.”
Haasdyk’s design depicts precipitation and glacial mountains flowing into a vessel. The manhole for storm water, designed by Andrea Williamson, represents the Bow River weaving through a poplar tree branch, while Jeff Kulak’s wastewater concept shows the four components of waste being separated through the treatment process.
The budget for the project is $40,000.
The Alberta Printmakers’ Society is partnering with Prairie Dog Brewing at 105 58th Ave S.E. for their Steamroller Printing event during Alberta Culture Days on Sept. 30. For more information, visitAlbertaPrintmakers.com orAlbertaCultureDays.ca RRumbolt@postmedia.com On Twitter: @RCRumbolt