Local artist Plante pushing all the right buttons

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This article was published 30/10/2023 (753 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cheryl Lashek’s ubiquitous — and, eventually, viral — signature on elevator permits all over the city made her into an unlikely Winnipeg celebrity.

Alex Plante is among the local artists who have helped elevate her into an icon.

In 2019, the 32-year-old digital illustrator painted a portrait of the civil servant called In Cheryl We Trust. In it, Lashek’s golden hair frames her face, and she’s gently holding an elevator in her upturned hands.

Plante drew inspiration from kitschy prayer candles — “You have the halo behind her like she’s the patron saint of elevators” — riffing on the hashtag #InCherylWeTrust.

Plante’s Lashek-inspired art is coming back into view now with the news that she has officially passed the baton, and her famed signature is being replaced in elevators around town with that of Ryan DeLury, the new director of inspection and technical services.

“I thought it was very funny,” Plante says of her initial bolt of inspiration. “Like, she’s an elevator engineer. It’s just such an absurd thing.”

But as she’ll tell you, Plante’s brand is all about the absurdities of our town, so she jumped on it.

“I was also very surprised after seeing her name in the elevator for so long to find out that she’s, like, young and hot, so that was also a fun thing to add.”

Plante had a chuckle when she received orders for the print from Lashek herself, but she was also relieved.

“I was like, I really hope that this isn’t super creepy and unpleasant for her, because you never know how people are gonna react to things like that,” Plante says. “Especially a portrait by someone you’ve never met, about this weird thing — you’re a STEM woman in the government and strangers are drawing pictures of you.”

Plante and Lashek are no longer strangers, and have plans to meet IRL.

“She’s an absolute sweetheart,” Plante says.

It was actually Lashek who requested an In Cheryl We Trust T-shirt, which Plante has available now via Teepublic.

Plante whipped up a new “simplified and cartoon-ified” iteration of her design, which overlapped with a change in her art style.

“I stopped doing portraits, and I stopped doing that kind of painterly style and I moved to something a little bit more stylized,” she says.

Winnipeg’s embrace of Lashek doesn’t surprise Plante.

“It’s one of those things where you latch on to your own things because nobody else is going to, so you kind of take your own hometown lore and you run with it because nobody else cares,” she says with a laugh.

A limited run of Plante’s In Cheryl We Trust prints and stickers will be available on her website. Also available for pre-order are her 2024 calendars, including a new recipe-themed one (Plante has designs on making a cookbook someday).

“It’s written in a funny, goofy way with jokes and fun facts and tips, and not a stuffy, traditional cookbook way,” she says.

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com