Ceremony celebrates city’s mural champion

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This article was published 22/06/2023 (842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bob Buchanan was not present at Winnipeg’s Mural of the Year awards ceremony Thursday for the first time in its 21-year history.

Buchanan, the founder of the award, died June 12, 10 days before the event.

Around 50 community members gathered at the St. James No. 4 branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to celebrate both this year’s award-winning mural and Buchanan’s efforts.

Buchanan has long documented Winnipeg’s wealth of murals on his website, the Murals of Winnipeg, which he launched in 2002.

Thursday’s event marked an informal continuation of Buchanan’s celebration of life, which took place Wednesday. For some attendees, it was the first they’d heard of Buchanan’s death.

“Bob wanted this event to be so special. He talked to me every single day, morning, noon and night,” said Kristi Meek, executive director of the Assiniboia Chamber of Commerce, which funded this year’s award. “He was so, so happy that he got to do this work.”

The 2023 Mural of the Year was awarded to 100 years of St. James, created by artists Jennifer Mosienko and Morgan Biggs. Stylized as a vintage postcard, the mural near the intersection of Portage Avenue and King Edward Street commemorates the neighbourhood’s centennial anniversary.

For Mosienko, who has spent the last two decades painting murals around Winnipeg, creating the St. James centennial mural had a special meaning.

“St. James was where I painted my very first mural over 20 years ago, and I’ve also lived in St. James for the past 17 years with my family,” she said.

Many of Buchanan’s friends and collaborators who attended Thursday’s event became emotional while speaking of the mural champion’s legacy.

Judy Andrich and her late husband Tom Andrich, a muralist and courtroom artist, met Buchanan around the time he launched Murals of Winnipeg. She said it has helped kick-start the artistic careers of many local muralists.

“It’s a living history,” Andrich said of the website. “It promoted the art.”

Buchanan not only brought attention to Winnipeg’s wealth of murals but was an archivist of sorts, too. Murals collide with factors like weather elements and building ownership, meaning not all of them will stand the test of time.

“He always put on his journalist hat,” said Charlie Johnston, a muralist and longtime friend of Buchanan’s. “He wanted to get the story. He always wanted to interview me about specific murals each year.

“Bob is really an irreplaceable part of our tiny little mural community here in Winnipeg,” Johnston added.

Winnipeg is home to over 600 murals — many of which were funded by Take Pride Winnipeg.

When Tom Ethans began his term as executive director of Take Pride in 1997, he reckons there were only around 25 murals across the city.

“We are considered by many to be the mural capital of Canada,” Ethans said.

While the future of the Murals of Winnipeg website is still uncertain, Ethans said both the community and Take Pride Winnipeg wish to continue the Mural of the Year award.

cierra.bettens@freepress.mb.ca