More than 2,000 small but significant artistic contributions make one vibrant St. James mural

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This article was published 21/10/2024 (651 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They say it takes a village to raise a child.

But it takes 2,200 small tiles of art joined together to connect a community.

That’s the implied message behind a new St. James-area mural unveiled Monday — a sea of colour in the shape of a hearty tree that can’t be missed when travelling west on Portage Avenue at Hampton Street.

Called the Canada Connects Love & Family mosaic, the roughly 3.5-metre-tall artwork glows with what, at a glance, appears to be red and orange leaves in front of a blue sky.

Closer inspection reveals it’s made up of individual tiles painted by Canadians and others from around the world and digitally submitted to the Alberta-based Global Roots Project.

Anna Pulice travelled from Montreal to see her single 15-centimetre by 15-centimetre-square tile of art featured.

“It is a privilege to have (it) included in this mural,” said Pulice. “It unites people from all over the world by participating in this piece of art.”

Pulice said she’d never been to Winnipeg before and was grateful the project brought her here.

“We want everybody to participate… and feel a sense of ownership for it,” said Lewis Lavoie, illustrator and inventor of Mural Mosaic, which runs the project. “Art needs to belong to the community.”

This is the 28th mural in the Global Roots series; others have been installed across Canada, in the U.S. and the U.K., said Lavoie.

Melanie Maher, executive director of the St. James Village BIZ, said the mural not only beautifies the city but also creates a sense of unity.

“It’s a great initiative and I would love to see more of them,” said Maher, who painted and submitted her own tile of a cherry-blossom tree.

Derek Faraci, owner of Midland Appliance World, the building the mural is painted on, says he wants to see more murals there.

Faraci says he would like add another one or two to fill the entire space.

“We have been around for over 40 years, and it’s just an honour our building was picked for this,” he said, adding that it will draw attention to the neighbourhood.

Brenda Krueger and granddaughters Kaia and Allie not only created tiles in the Winnipeg mural, but also participated in Toronto’s Global Roots program.

Painting the tiles is special to her and her granddaughters because it’s something they can do together to have “girl time,” she said.

“Everybody does a small part, but when you put them together, it creates a much bigger picture,” said Krueger, who has more tiles waiting at home to be painted and submitted.

city.desk@freepress.mb.ca