SANDY HILL MURAL
Artist takes wing with butterflies
The butterfly is Claudia Salguero's favourite motif.
She's the Colombian-Canadian visual artist (and singer) who's been instrumental in creating big, bright murals on Ottawa Community Housing buildings, often with a butterfly incorporated into the design.
The latest is no exception. On the south fence of the Ottawa Community Housing office in Sandy Hill, four stylized butterflies flit over a colourful landscape that evokes a garden full of flowers and sunshine. Measuring four feet by eight feet, it's not one of the biggest murals in the artist's portfolio, but it may be the most creative in its approach.
Salguero describes herself as a community-engaged artist because she brings her mural designs to life by co-ordinating plenty of hands-on help from residents of the neighbourhood.
But this time, because of the coronavirus pandemic and the need for physical distancing, she had to come up with a different strategy.
It started with a plan, drummed up with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, to distribute art kits. Then the charitable organization, MASC (Multicultural Arts for Schools and Communities), got involved and the idea blossomed: 32 families from the Sandy Hill community each received a kit containing a one-foot-square canvas, paint and brushes, and a link to an instructional video from Salguero.
“I wanted to let them know what to do, how to do it and more specifically, how to do it on their own,” said Salguero in an interview. “They shouldn't be feeling afraid that they're not artists and that I wasn't going to be there for them. I wanted to motivate people, and find a way for them to feel at ease and empowered.”
She got the canvases back in a couple of weeks, laid them on the floor and began painting the butterfly design.
After capturing a high-resolution image of the entire creation, she added some digital effects and then sent it off to be printed on aluminum, a step that gave extra depth and texture to the finished product.
Salguero hadn't exactly planned to execute another butterfly piece but it's a symbol that always inspires her. Butterflies burst from her 2018 WOW mural, which adorns the side of a Rideau Street highrise, and they're a central theme of her Mariposas mural on Bank Street, a solo commission that also was completed during the pandemic.
“Butterflies have lots of meanings in many different cultures,” Salguero said. “They have spiritual meanings but mostly they are associated with freedom, hope, transformation, endurance. That is the main message.”
Salguero came to Canada in 2001 with her former husband and their two children, set on seeking new opportunities. A self-taught photographer, she began working freelance jobs while her children were in school, learning digital art techniques (and English) along the way.
To her, the biggest gift in coming to Canada is developing an appreciation for other cultures.
“It's something you're not exposed to in Colombia. This was huge for me and my daughters,” she said.
“We grew to be people with wide views, a compassionate heart and so much respect for differences and for all backgrounds and genders and ages. I feel this is one of the biggest advantages of moving to a country like Canada.”
Singing is also a passion for the 55-year-old artist, who has a band and usually performs an annual concert at the National Arts Centre's Fourth Stage, although this year's show was cancelled because of the pandemic. Her music has evolved to focus on Latin American songs, often with an environmental message.
“My music is now sending the same messages as my murals,” she said. “It's about diversity and taking care of the planet so my activism is both in my murals and my music.”
During the pandemic, Salguero also has been conducting online art workshops, finding them to be a popular activity for families in lockdown.
“Everybody is counting on art to feel sane these days,” she said. “Without art, you don't learn to think in different ways or solve problems. Other health things are more urgent right now but art needs to be considered one of the most important parts of development in society. Kids need art to express themselves.”
Salguero's next mural project will be entitled Wisdom, and she expects it will be even bigger than the Rideau Street one.
The location has been approved — it will decorate a highrise near Billings Bridge — and some grant funding has been secured, but more money is needed. Salguero recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise another $30,000 for its creation.
“It's going to be my most important mural,” she said.
“It has to do with the Indigenous people. They know how to connect with nature. They know we're destroying the planet. If we can consider ourselves one with Mother Nature and with each other, that would change so many things.”
She plans to assemble a group of 12 knowledge-keepers and elders from different cultural backgrounds, all based in Ottawa, to conduct a series of round table discussions on protecting the environment. That process will inspire the mural design, and residents of the community will help realize the vision.
To donate, go to gofundme. com/f/help--us-create-the-wisdom-mural.