Four murals created in Arts Mosaic project

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This article was published 08/10/2020 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four bright new murals are up in Westman, with the communities of Elkhorn, Oak Lake, Reston and Virden benefitting from the Arts Mosaic Inc. effort.

The MB Mural Mosaic Project was created to celebrate Manitoba’s 150th anniversary and was funded by area community foundations and municipal councils.

This sense of community ownership was furthered by the Home Hardware in Virden, which donated approximately 30 gallons of paint for the project, Arts Mosaic Inc. administrator Christa Milne said.

“It was more successful than I hoped,” she said. “With everything going on with COVID, I think we just lucked out with the right project for Manitoba 150.”

With most public celebrations and events cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she said the mural project allowed people a chance to celebrate their community’s history while social distancing.

“The artists are so talented and caught the vision so accurately,” Milne said.

This vision, as she described it late last year when accepting submissions from artists, was to “look at each community and look at what it has done to contribute to Manitoba overall.”

Redvers teacher and Sinclair resident Whitney Paul-Joseph created the mural in Reston, using nature and natural elements in her painting. She is a longtime educator who teaches art classes and runs art camps in her spare time.

The mother-daughter duo of Mary and Erica Lowe created the murals in Elkhorn, Oak Lake and Virden. Mother Mary has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Manitoba. Daughter Erica is a mural painter and art teacher, having graduated from Brandon University with a creative arts degree. The duo used historical imagery interplayed with nature to create their murals.

These four murals are featured on the national Mural Routes website, muralroutes.ca, which Milne said might help sway people to Westman during mural tours.

VIRDEN

This mural reflects the industry, people and landscape that brought the Town of Virden to life, and “brings together the history and vibrancy of the Prairies in a collage bursting with colour and life,” according to an Arts Mosaic Inc. release.

This mural was funded by the Town of Virden and the Virden and Area Foundation, and is located on the side of Gopher Creek Coffee Company along a back alley.

“It’s a neat little treasure hidden away in the corner,” Milne said.

RESTON

Located on the Reston Golf Course, this shack has seen better days, but was the perfect location for this mural to find its home, according to an Arts Mosaic Inc. release.

“The mural is a vibrant celebration of the prairie landscape in the RM of Pipestone, and perfectly reflects the beauty of the landscape that gives it shelter.”

OAK LAKE

The Oak Lake mural was painted on the side of the Oak Lake Community School and was funded by the Oak Lake and Area Foundation.

The mural celebrates the history of the Ox Cart Trail, with resources and images gathered from the book “Ox Cart Trail to Blacktop,” and was based on the belief that it is important to know as much as possible about their own history. 

ELKHORN

This mural is on the Manitoba Antique Automobile Museum and was funded by the Elkhorn and Area Foundation and the Rural Municipality of Wallace-Woodworth.

It celebrates Isaac (Ike) Clarkson, whose boyhood dream of collecting and displaying the machines of his youth for future generations came true through the museum.

The museum was opened in 1967, and Clarkson continued working on vehicles until his death in 1971 at the age of 58.

 

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