City draws up an underpass mural plan
If you’re an artist in the national capital who would love nothing more than to tag your masterpiece to the underside of a city bridge, there’s now a legal way to do it.
The City of Ottawa is seeking mural artists to paint the walls of two Queensway underpasses — Carling Avenue and Bank Street — to enhance the streetscape and pinpoint the bridges as key gateways to the city.
It’s also a great way to deter graffiti, according to City officials.
“Through our overall graffiti management strategy, the use of murals is one way that we use to help prevent graffiti,” said Leslie Vanclies, one of the leaders of the Mural on Underpasses project.
“What we find when we install murals is that those walls tend to not be hit with graffiti, or at least a much reduced amount of graffiti in the future.”
With the co-operation of Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, the Murals on Underpasses project will have a $25,000 budget for each location and will feature an original design created by the selected mural artists based on community feedback. The murals will be painted on one wall of the underpasses.
On the second wall of each underpass, murals will be painted under a separate contract to celebrate the 150th anniversary in 2017 of Canada’s Confederation.
Last year, murals were painted on underpasses on Metcalfe Street where it passes under the Queensway and on Riverside Drive where it passes under Bronson Avenue.
“We’ve been on a great positive streak with the murals that the City has done so far,” said Ottawa police Const. Chuck Benoit.
Interested artists must apply through the City of Ottawa by April 30. Applicants can submit for one or both locations, but will only be eligible to receive a maximum of one commission. Information on the application and process and selection criteria are available at ottawa.ca.