Boissevain MB chooses two new murals from almost 20 choices

Original Published on Jul 28, 2022 at 13:27

By Miranda Leybourne, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Boissevain-Morton Arts Council has decided on the finalists for its two new outdoor murals that will be completed this summer.

The murals will be painted at the original telephone building and the community’s two water towers. The call for submissions recently closed, and council chair Lisa Heide said she was very happy with the amount they received — close to 20 submissions between the two projects.

Entries came from Westman artists as well as from creators all over Canada. Now, the council must go through all the submissions and decide on its top three.

Seven artists submitted their artwork ideas for the new mural that will be painted on Boissevain’s original telephone operator exchange building, in keeping with the council’s chosen theme of “Communication Through the Ages.” The theme, Heide said, spans the course of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign, with funding provided through the federal government to celebrate the monarch’s platinum jubilee.

The water tower project, Heide said, will see the chosen artist painting their mural on the two big towers that supply the community with fresh water. The theme will be “hot and cold,” a nod to when those words were stenciled on the towers in days gone by. Someone originally wrote the words on the two water towers as a prank, but it’s something the Boissevain community quickly grew to love.

“That’s something that’s very important for the people of Boissevain,” Heide said. “We wanted to keep that as part of the theme.”

Submissions that have come in for that mural are mostly centred around the juxtaposition of hot and cold, ranging from reds and yellows contrasting with blues and themes of summer and winter.

Heide said Boissevain is home to many talented artists who use a variety of media in their work.

“We have painters, wood sculptors, some [people who work with] ceramics, stuff with fabric and all sorts of different artists. We have a very strong scene. There’s a lot of support for the arts.”

Erica Holloway is one of the local artists who is excited to see how the two murals will turn out. She’s currently working on a mural of her own that the council commissioned her to paint at the Boissevain Golf Club. The council approached her in June to create a piece that would represent a bright, colourful garden.

Holloway, who got started on the project recently, is excited to see it come to life, along with the other two mural projects in the area.

“I think it’s important to bring arts into the community. It brightens the community, it brings people together, it gives artists opportunities and it can brighten people’s moods.”

Holloway, who has been an artist for 20 years, said the council, on which she serves as a board member, provides a lot of arts education as well as beautiful art exhibits for the public to enjoy.

“Boissevain is very active in arts education and arts itself.”

Holloway will be showcasing her work at the Cre8ery Gallery and Studio in Winnipeg in January 2023.

This item reprinted with permission from the Sun, Brandon, Manitoba