Artists chosen for new Boissevain-Morton murals

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This article was published 01/09/2022 (1340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Colourful outdoor murals will soon be on display in Boissevain-Morton, now that artists have been chosen by the arts council and the municipality to paint them.

Six finalists were shortlisted by the Boissevain-Morton Arts Council. Three were considered for painting Boissevain’s two large water towers, and three others for creating a mural at the original telephone building.

Then, it was up to the Boissevain-Morton council to choose their favourites. George Heide, who sits on the council, said it was a tricky decision to make. In the end, council decided to award an artistic duo out of Calgary called “Kerzeka” to paint the mural at the telephone building.

Kerzeka is made up of Tiziano Lombardo, who was born in Rome and has lived in Canada for more than a decade, and Desiree Devloo, who specializes in an abstract realism style of mural painting. Together, they’ll work with the theme “Communication Through the Ages,” which will span the 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, as the funding for the project came through the federal government to celebrate the monarch’s platinum jubilee.

Originally from Somerset, 149 kilometres southeast of Brandon, Devloo now lives in Calgary, where she paints with an urban-influenced style.

Devloo said in a phone interview that she’s excited to visit her home province just like she did last summer, when she painted three murals in Manitoba — one in Somerset, for her mother; one in Baldur and another in Morden.

Combining her urban style with images and themes that represent small-town life in Manitoba is a challenge that Devloo said she is up for.

“A lot of the stuff that I do is quite bright and colourful, and has a street-art element to it, so it’s quite fitting in a big city. So it’s interesting going to the small towns and still keeping the element of what I love to paint, but also trying to fit in with the energy of the town and the stories of the people or animals.”

Devloo is drawing inspiration for the communication-themed mural from her own use of technology and how it has allowed to her connect with her family despite living two provinces away.

“I feel very personally connected to the mural. With technology, there’s all these different ways I can communicate with my family in Manitoba, and this mural was kind of like a tribute to that — being able to stay in communication and stay in touch even though people are far away.”

But it was a synchronistic surprise Devloo stumbled upon that decided one of the main elements of the mural, she said.

“I actually visited Manitoba two weeks ago, and I found this photo that my mom had inherited of my grandmother at her first job, and she worked as a [telephone] operator. It blew my mind, I didn’t know about that.”

While Devloo is still working on her design, she said she’s going to try to incorporate the photo of her grandmother into the mural.

Devloo is hoping that young people in the community, or ones who come to visit, will see her work and become inspired to take up art themselves.

“I find it really interesting, being able to come to these small towns and bring a fresh new style … and being able to incorporate more of the urban style and … maybe inspire some younger people that have not ventured out into bigger cities as much, to be able to see something a little bit different.”

Kent Ness, an artist from Saskatoon, will paint the community’s water towers, focusing on a theme of “hot and cold.”

Ness put his name forward for the project because it seemed like a unique way to challenge himself as an artist, he said.

“The fact that it was two water towers and not just a wall somewhere definitely piqued my interest.”

The artist plans to paint winter and summer scenes on the water towers, featuring local wildlife and landscapes.

Ness, who was born in Winnipeg, said his trip to paint the mural will be his first visit to Boissevain, but he’s excited for it, and to work with the arts council and the municipality.

Choosing finalists for both categories wasn’t easy, said Heide.

“Personally, I thought they were all good. It was personal taste that made my decision, for the greater community. I thought the community would like a certain look, so that’s what I chose. Then we made a council decision and everybody had their say. It came down to a good decision-making process.”

According to Heide, the freshly painted murals are a nod to the importance of art in the local community.

“As long as I can remember … [there’s been] lots of art being displayed on our buildings and in our community. There’s a lot of aspects of art going on, and music and culture, and it’s always been prominent. People always were attracted to it and enjoyed being a part of it.”

The project received more than 20 submissions from artists eager to take part in the project, Lisa Heide said.

The murals will be painted sometime in September at the two sites, both of which are located on the east side of Broadway Street in Boissevain. The murals, which will take about one week to complete, should be done in time for the community’s Street Fest, on Sept. 17.

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