The corner of YellowknifeSA国际影视传媒檚 50 Street and 52 Avenue got an upgrade last Friday with the 5052 Community Mural Project SA国际影视传媒� a collaboration between the Foster Family Coalition (FFC), Tree of Peace, and Makerspace Yellowknife.
The project, named for its location, is a 10-panel mural created through a collaboration among Yellowknife youth and established artists.
Korry Garvey, program coordinator with the Foster Family Coalition, says it's nice to see public art around town, and that murals promote community engagement and positive mental health, even for passersby.
Photos courtesy of Korry Garvey
For over a year, the five mentoring artists and eight youth met on Saturdays to work on the mural from concept creation to completion. At first, the group met weekly, though they had to take a Covid-related pause earlier this year until the weather allowed the artists to work outside.
The youth were between 10 and 20 years old and participation was not limited to kids in foster care.
Terry Pamplin, one of the featured artists, says the mentoring aspect is key.
As a lifelong artist, Pamplin says he often felt he was on the periphery of social circles growing up. He sees projects like 5052 as a space for SA国际影视传媒測oung people in that same categorySA国际影视传媒� to be SA国际影视传媒渞ecognized and accepted.SA国际影视传媒�
Pamplin says the circle panels that the group decided on SA国际影视传媒渞epresent the circle of life, the circle of family and the strength of a circle.SA国际影视传媒�
SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a very powerful symbol,SA国际影视传媒� he says.
Pamplin describes the artists moving from panel to panel, adding to their peersSA国际影视传媒� work and learning from each otherSA国际影视传媒檚 techniques. In that way, he says, there is no pointing to one panel to say SA国际影视传媒淭erry did this, or someone else did that... it is in the truest sense a collaborative mural.SA国际影视传媒�
Pamplin adds that the teaching relationship is "almost like a grandfather, grandson type of sharing."
Alongside Pamplin, the other featured artists on the project were Michael Fatt, John Rombough, Amelie Duval and Christina Moore.
The project was funded through a $20,000 grant from the RBC Future Launch Community Challenge, through the Yellowknife Community Foundation.
On Monday, the FFC hosted a dinner to celebrate the projectSA国际影视传媒檚 completion and to debrief on lessons learned. Garvey says the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and that theySA国际影视传媒檙e looking into funding future art projects and are also working with Mahalia Yakeleya-Newmark on Strong People, Strong Communities SA国际影视传媒� an NWT mural project also focused on engaging youth and mentorship.
One artist told Garvey that as she was leaving the building, a stranger passing by stopped and exclaimed, SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 so beautiful." For the artist, the interaction was heartening.
Garvey says itSA国际影视传媒檚 important for the youth to be involved in something SA国际影视传媒渢hat will be around for a long time,SA国际影视传媒� and to be able to point to a public installation and feel proud.
