Colourful new view blooms at Artspace building
A crowd gathered outside the Artspace building on Aylmer St. early Thursday night to mark the completion of a large new mural.
Chrissy Poitras, an artist from Prince Edward County, painted the botanical mural with help from artist Kyle Topping.
The two painted for about three weeks; they said the weather was often sweltering, which caused paint to dry on their brushes as they were trying to apply it to the white wall.
But they persevered and the result is a botanical piece called Wild One Forever. A plaque says the art was inspired by local wildflowers and gardens.
The design was selected after the city received 44 submissions in a cross-Canada call for artists.
It’s one of a series of murals that will be installed downtown over the next several years.
The DBIA has said it will commit $20,000 annually for murals over the next two years – and perhaps longer.
Meanwhile the city’s been commissioning murals, as well; two are already painted beneath the arches of the Hunter Street Bridge.
The mural program is expected to resume beneath the bridge in 2019.
One of the bridge murals depicts bloodroot, a local wildflower. It’s by Edmonton artist Jill Stanton.
Although each of the two murals is utterly unique, Poitras said there may be a kinship between the pieces -- and between the artists, too.
“I think we were probably both looking at botanical illustrations from the 1700s,” she said.