A mural tour in Calgary, and flying home
Sunday, November 24th – Day 10 of my trip, and the last full day away from home. The warm sun was gone but I had a day and a half to spend with family.
Neither Andrea nor I were pleased to see this…
…but she suggested that we head downtown and check out some of the murals that have been created in recent years.
I wonder how more years the tiny community of Balzac has before the suburban sprawl wipes it out.
We began at what may be the longest mural in Canada, an 850-meter-long fence mural in Coventry Hills that depicts Calgary’s history in a wide variety of ways. Led by 23 artists, over 700 people were involved in painting the 12 mural sections from August 4-6, 2018.
In the snow, the bare trees beautifully frame the artwork.
From Northern Lights and mountains to trains and automobiles, there’s lots of variety.
The snow created a few challenges, mostly with finding places to park where we wouldn’t get stuck.
We headed right downtown next. There, many of the murals have been coordinated or sponsored by BUMP, the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association.
This huge untitled work was created by BirdO, a.k.a. Jerry Rugg.
The detail on the bird above is amazing, with the city even reflected in its eye.
It would be easy to put together a fairly lengthy photography tour of notable architecture in the new Calgary.
More traditional public art is also plentiful.
Sometimes I get distracted by trains 🙂
The murals can be found everywhere, from main streets to parking lots and alleys. “First Frost” is by Calgary artist Tiffany Lynn Cuffley. The wall for this piece was a huge source of inspiration as it has a geometric edge which leads into a large rectangular space. She was inspired by the wall having such a unique shape that resembled the mountains, which was a jumping-off point for this mural.
On the opposite side of the parking lot from “First Frost” is 10-storey-high “Para Maxi,” created by Jacquie Comrie.
This alley-long mountain scene is by Emmanuel Jarus.
This is the rest of the mural above.
This striking three-sided mural was created by Dinho Bento, a Brazilian artist residing in Ottawa. The mural portrays some endangered species in Canada, the gray fox, the grizzly bear, and the Eastern cougar, along with two human figures. It symbolizes our inseparable connection with the natural world. The warm tones of the color palette allude to an environmental wake-up call, highlighting the impact of the climate change and human actions that need to be contained.
The next mural is by Chinese-born DALeast, an accomplished painter, sculptor, and digital artist. His murals make use of fractured imagery to form shapes, often animals or humans, and splintered lines to project movement or feeling in his subjects. He has worked on a vast number of projects, starting in 2005, throughout Beijing, China, as well as South Africa, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Namibia, the United States, and many other countries throughout Europe and Africa.
The guide Andrea was using said there is a mural at the 1912 King Edward School. It took a long time to find it, but that gave me a good look at the school itself, definitely a worthwhile subject.
Ah, there’s the mural, behind the parking lot.
The signboard at Holy Martyr Peter the Aleut Orthodox Church stopped me! Cungagnaq, a native of Kodiak Island, Alaska, is venerated as a martyr and saint as Peter the Aleut by the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was given the Christian name of Peter when he was baptized into the Orthodox faith by the monks of St Herman’s missionaries operating in the north. He was captured by Spanish soldiers near San Pedro and tortured and killed in 1815 at the instigation of Roman Catholic priests when he refused to convert to their faith.
The King Edward mural was our final one. That had been a really nice way to end our touring. One more art shot, though, as we were going to see my son and his family. It is so nice to see the vast expanses of concrete wall along highways getting some decoration – we had noticed that that’s the norm in Arizona now, and many are extremely attractive.
A calm spot along the Bow River.
Andrea and I finally with no place to go, just getting good energy from Marshal. I look like I needed to go to bed for a week, though 🙂
My flight on Monday wasn’t until 1:50, so Steve and I went for some “guy time” at the Calgary shooting range – we spit a lot of lead with 4 handguns 🙂 My favourite was the 10-round Walther 9mm seen on the table on the right.
My flight departed from YYC almost half an hour late.
We were above the clouds for most of the way home but there were a few clear spots. The next three photos were all shot between 2:35 and 2:45.
At 4:30, I shot the final photo of the trip as we descended over Tagish Lake.
My blog has now caught up with me and we’re both settled in at home after a particularly fine trip. I have a whole lot of snow to shovel, so that’s where I’m going in a few minutes. Thanks for joining me on this journey 🙂
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Home there’s no place like home, that was a amazing trip Murrster thanks for the journey on the couch, carbon footprint scores a big fat zero, take every step carefully eh 🇺🇸👍🇨🇦 Merry Christmas of course 🌵
Thanks, Paul. It was really nice to have you along again – some day we’ll make it happen for real.
having been a former resident of Kodiak ( tho still in Alaska) I appreciate your writing on Peter the Aleut. I’ll have to look for the mural next time in Calgary
Thanks, John. Although I knew the story, it was very cool to be reminded of it in Calgary.