Murals bring colour, play, inspiration

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This article was published 21/11/2021 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Robin Love likes to think of her painting style as “playful.”

“I like to tune into a child-like fantasy world that’s kind of pop-surreal fantasy. I describe it as ethereal because of the colours. It plays with this duality: it’s very bright and vibrant, but sometimes there’s an eerie darkness to it,” the 39-year-old mother of two says on a phone call. “I love colour play.”

Such an attention to brightness, colour and play caught the attention of a group of dedicated employees serving the south Winnipeg community from a collection of offices in a church basement this past summer.

At the time, the walls of the South Winnipeg Family Information Centre’s rented space in the basement of Fort Garry United Church were “a dull, muddy brown-ish colour,” says executive director Tricia Robinson, and the team was looking out for a way to brighten its halls.

Enter Love and her vision for a colourful portal-style mural that would invite hope and optimism to the once-dreary walls.

“Robin’s work just brought life to the area,” says Robinson. “It’s just kind of enveloped the whole room in a feeling of being outdoors, of the joy of nature.”

With an artistic style marked by whimsy, attention to detail, and love for her home province’s sprawling prairie landscapes and wildlife, the family centre commissioned Love to paint an eye-catching mural; first on one wall, and then throughout the triangular office space.

“They wanted something bright and encompassing, that made everyone feel welcome,” says Love. “I liked the idea of this rainbow that surrounded the world. You could walk through it and be taken to our environment, but super happy.”

Love’s portal mural centres on a rainbow arch, through which a vibrant world of flora and fauna come alive. Monarch butterflies — a symbol of transformation — dance around a gnarled tree spotted with yellow stars. An eagle soars above the rainbow’s arc; a fish leaps through piles of rainbow waves.

Love, who is Métis and born in Russell, says she wanted to imbue the mural with imagery that connected familiar elements of the Prairie landscape with Indigenous cultural concepts, all while maintaining her bright and playful personal style.

“I really kind of just wanted to embrace a part of me that I really haven’t done in a lot of art,” she says.

For staff at the South Winnipeg Family Information Centre, who have largely worked in isolation since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mural brought new hope to dark days.

“All those worries: are we helping people enough, is the organization going to be OK? At those moments, I would be able to go out into that little space, and when you stand in front of the portal you really feel enveloped by it,” said Robinson.

The mural was completed at the end of the summer and has since been shared with members of the organizations programs via Zoom. Those working from the office, however, are excited for visitors to get to see it in person, in due time.

“You can imagine yourself not in a basement anymore, you’re in a lovely space and it transports you to a hopeful place where you can see that things are going to get better and there is hope and joy still to come. I certainly drew a lot of strength from that,” says Robinson.

Love’s work also made an impression on the centre’s landlords.

Former board chair at Fort Garry United Church, Dianne Cooper, says it has always worked to make sure public art helps communicate the church’s message and values to the community.

“We work away at all sorts of programming — and public art would be one of them — to give people an opportunity to see that we’re a bunch of people who value inclusiveness, openness and creativity,” says Cooper.

“Sometimes, it’s just a matter of when they drive by, they notice something or think about something they haven’t thought about before.”

The church has hung red dresses and orange ribbons in recent times, but in preparation to celebrate its 100th anniversary, felt a mural on its outdoor walls could perhaps attract new eyes.

Already enamoured with Love’s work in the building’s basement, Cooper says the board was eager to commission her for another mural — this time to be hung on plywood slats outside the church.

“We wanted it to communicate that music is a big value in our sharing… We wanted to share a little bit of our connections and outreach with Indigenous people, and the (LGBTTQ+ community),” said Cooper.

The mural depicts two hands, one dark-skinned and another fair-skinned, holding a dream catcher ringed with the four colours of the medicine wheel; music notes woven through the background communicate an emphasis on the power of connection in song; and the painted words ‘All are welcome’ drive the mural’s theme home.

“They wanted the same idea of all-encompassing, all-inclusive,” says Love, who found the second mural more challenging, but important in its message.

Both Love and the church hope the mural will inspire passersby to think about something new; perhaps the relationship between churches and Indigenous peoples, perhaps challenging their perspectives on what values churchgoers may represent.

“It is a church and there’s a lot of pain there — I thought that I wanted to show there’s a spectrum of cultures and ethnicities that do have a love for Indigenous people, and they are trying,” says Love.

Ultimately, the artist says she is “humbled” by the opportunity to bring new life to the inside and outside walls of Fort Garry United, and is grateful her art brings light and joy to those who see it.

“I have a sense of pride,” she says. “I love that they make people happy.”

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers