New mural brightens up West End street

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This article was published 17/08/2022 (1436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new mural has appeared on a West End building thanks to the efforts of sustainable supply store and recycling company Cascades, Take Pride Winnipeg and two local artists.

The mural, which stands 15 inches tall and 80 inches wide (not including the spillover), is located on the Cascades building at 680 Wall St. The image’s bright colours capture a prairie sunset, sprawling green fields and scaling rocks with waves of water while a soaring heron takes centre stage.

Local artists and muralists Mandy van Leeuwen, 42, and Michel Saint Hilaire, 50, collaborated on the project, which is nearing completion.

“Cascades wanted to give back to the community because they recognized themselves as an industrial eyesore in the neighbourhood,” van Leeuwen said. “When these opportunities come up where we can partner with other companies and organizations, we join together to beautify the street through culture, art and new life.”

The goal with the design, van Leeuwen added, was to create something with the best impact for such a large building. The team chose a rectangular shape, and wanted to pay homage to Cascades’ origins of Quebec in the waterfall area.

“We feature the waterfalls, and then it starts to get more stylized into other environmental areas,” van Leeuwen said. “The movement suggests the movement of the street, and that we’re interrupting humanity with a nature scene in an industrial mix. Everything Cascades makes is out of recycled material, so that made it clear the care to the environment is what it needed to be about.”

The current mural might expand into several others to cover the entirety of the Cascades building, said van Leeuwen and Take Pride Winnipeg executive director Tom Ethans.

“We’re hopeful that it could very well be the first of many, but it depends on Cascades. If they’re willing to pay for more, we’ll do more,” Ethans added.

The West End BIZ has also contributed to the project financially, a spokesperson for the organization said.

For more information about Cascades and Take Pride Winnipeg, visit www.cascades.com and www.takepride.mb.ca