Living, breathing art

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This article was published 26/10/2015 (3800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Art is, for many, deeply personal. So when art is created to represent a neighbourhood, and not just the inner workings of the artist, what meaning does it take on?

On the way to work, stuck in traffic or grabbing a coffee, a mural is a welcome dose of colour. But when the entire neighbourhood decides that public art is a priority and suddenly there’s something to see on every street corner, the neighbourhood starts to change.

“A lot of this art has strong ties to the neighbourhood,” said Synonym Art Consultation creative director Andrew Eastman. “The people that live in (West Broadway), all they see is grey boxes and now they see this pop of colour. It really changes people’s mindset even though it’s an eight-foot-by-eight-foot mural. It changes people’s ideas of what you can do in a neighbourhood to beautify it.”

Eastman and Synonym’s Chloe Chafe started the initiative in February 2013, which aims to get local art out onto the streets for the public to engage with. During the month of September, Synonym hosted the Wall-to-Wall mural and culture festival which facilitated the creation of 10 murals.

“The community just exploded,” Chafe said. “The reception was so positive and we were really able to get some diversity in our participation and it was amazing. We kind of thought there were only so many people who were interested in this stuff and once we started this dialogue, there were so many different people who wanted to take part.”

The festival was about more than getting paint up on the walls. Each mural was its own event, and community members were encouraged to take part in the process. DJs and musicians performed as the artists worked and local residents were invited to come watch everything come together, hang out with artists and their friends.

“It’s harder to feel a sense of community in these core neighbourhoods,” Eastman said. “You’re kind of anonymous and there’s a lot of cultural activity but these artworks can define a community. In West Broadway, we’ve really made something in that area. It is now becoming synonymous with murals and we want to get to that point.”

The art represents more than just the artists who create them—each work represents the group of people who were witness to its creation, and the communities that absorb those images into their identity.

“One of the reasons that we invest so heavily into public art is that it adds to the streetscape, it adds beauty, interest, colour,” said West End BIZ executive director Gloria Cardwell-Hoeppner. “It tells the history of the area and shares the stories of our residents… it builds community pride.”

And what follows that sense of pride are local businesses, tenants and a desire to spend time in a neighbourhood that has a personality and a vivid energy.

A community in bloom

“When I first came here in 2007, the Richardson College wasn’t there, there wasn’t the Harvey’s or the Pizza Pizza, and it was very dark,” Cardwell-Hoeppner said. “I would sit in my office and think it’s really dark out there. Now if I work late, there are lights and people and activity going on. There’s such a different feel to the community.”

Cardwell-Hoeppner has made murals and art installations a priority for West End BIZ and she believes it’s been key in seeing the community develop as it has. Since 2007, dozens of businesses have moved into the West End, making it an appealing place to work, live and spend time. With such a high percentage of artistic and creative residents, it’s no wonder that art has played a part in that.

“The timing of the festival last year was in conjunction with so many small businesses opening,” Eastman said. “West Broadway was getting a total revitalization and a totally new outlook. With our events and murals last year, we hosted the grand opening of the Handsome Daughter, which is an institution in the neighbourhood, and the Tallest Poppy, we were there for the first event there.”

Together with the recent construction on Sherbrook Street, the murals transformed the area into a destination for all Winnipeggers. The area not only boasts a variety of local food, it’s also become a cultural hub for artists and musicians.

“We hopefully have a good pulse on the city because we’re in the service industry,” Eastman said. “We can kind of feel where these neighbourhoods are about to sprout up and if we can help them in any way with a mural, I think that’s really important to do.”

The symbiotic relationship between artists and businesses is evident in every project that Synonym tackles. Chafe sums it up on her online bio with one line: “I believe in community in every sense of the word.”

 “No change happens with just one individual or organization,” Cardwell-Hoeppner said. “It’s a collective effort of businesses, residents and social groups. It takes everything to make these changes for a great and vibrant community.”

Making the connection

According to former Winnipeg Centre MP Pat Martin, a dollar invested in art yields $17 in economic growth. While some businesses have always invested in original art, many others are getting on board as they witness the difference that a distinctive piece of art can make to a coffee shop, restaurant or music venue.

“It actually ends up being a big discussion,” Chafe said. “The social media factor is actually incredible… people are starting to realize that no one is going to take photos in a restaurant if you have a printed photo of the Eiffel Tower. People walking down the street are going to want to feel good about being there and will want to document it and share it.”

Chafe and Eastman agree that social media has been a huge tool in not only finding artists to work with, but also in sharing what Synonym does and building connections with people who share their interests.

“There’s a great community of bloggers in Winnipeg, these people are out shooting beautiful things in the city,” Eastman said. “To get tapped into that community is really great.”

It’s also been a way to put Winnipeg on the map with other cities that are moving ahead into more contemporary street art. In June, Chafe and Eastman visited Montreal, which is known for its rich and vibrant street art community. The pair witnessed crowds of thousands at street art parties and festivals, and while they know Winnipeg has a few steps to take before getting to that point, it’s something they want to work towards.

“We want to try and tackle those big walls in the city,” Eastman said. “I still want to have that grassroots smaller business aspect but we still want to get one or two big walls where we’re renting lifts and doing proper huge art installations, and get a visiting artist.”

According to Eastman, not many artists in the city have had much experience with large-scale murals, and bringing in a visiting artist would be a way of providing mentorship for local artists.

“To create pieces like that would make Winnipeg part of the dialogue,” Eastman said. “There’s the kind of street art from the roots of small tags in subways and now there is the opposite, which is huge skyscrapers covered in huge works of decorative art… we just need to knock on some doors, or elevators.” 

Regardless of the scale, Chafe and Eastman want to keep Synonym and their work approachable and engaging.

“What’s really important to us is that people can approach us at any time, we want to try and do that as much as possible,” Chafe said. “If you are out there and you want in, contact us… It’s important that artists and musicians and community members approach us and we always want people to feel like they can have that discussion, cause we want it, good, bad, questions, anything.”

For more information, visit: www.synonymartconsultation.com and www.westendbiz.ca/murals