‘Near to my heart’

South Osborne

Those wandering through South Osborne can now find a fun new gallery of public art hung along the streets of the neighbourhood. All they need to do is look up.

The 22 new banners in on Osborne Street, between Mulvey and Jubilee avenues, were funded by the Winnipeg Arts Council and designed and illustrated by Cato Cormier, a local illustrator who specializes in striking, bubbly character art. Past projects include work for CKUW, the campus radio station at the University of Winnipeg, and Théâtre Cercle Molière, as well as several self-published comics and zines.

She said that the characters, which are depicted in silly situations from everyday life, were primarily inspired by people-watching in the area and folks from Cormier’s own life.

“That neighbourhood, or that strip of Osborne specifically, is near to my heart,” Cormier said, explaining that when she first moved to Winnipeg from Montreal, Que. in 2019, that was the first community in the city she began to get to know very well. It was the strip where a lot of Cormier’s relatives lived, and so businesses such as Park Theatre and Mulvey Market were some introductions to the culture of the area.

“When I saw that there was a call out to artists, I got really excited about it,” Cormier said. “Because I think, specifically, in the call, they wanted someone to approach it with site specificity in mind. And so my approach to the project and my overall concept was around three things.”

The first was “celebrating snippets of everyday life in a public space,” she said. “A kind gesture between strangers or a group of friends like bursting into laughter, or someone that’s walking by you and has a really eye-catching outfit.”

The second was the people Cormier knew in her real life: “Those people in your life that have main character energy.”

“I’m really character-centric. I really love to draw people like weird goblins or powerful women, or just stuff like that,” she said. “I want to draw people that stand out, people that make up our community that you might see on the sidewalk or at your local store or by the river.”

And finally, the third: celebration.

“Celebrating and encouraging the enthusiastic use of public space and highlighting local third spaces,” Cormier explained. “Local businesses, folks that sell food … all of our favorite spots. So the banners feature people and moments … you’ll see, let’s say, an eccentric character eating like a long, wet sandwich, and the banner is right next to Hoagie Boyz.”

Cormier’s art process included consulting drawing prompts with situations such as ‘rainy day,’ as well as everyday situations and struggles related to where the banners were located, all done in collaboration with the project committee.

Overall, she said she feels happy with the results.

“It looks like a really fun block party with a lot of people,” she said.

To learn more about the project and to see some of Cormier’s work, visit winnipegarts.ca/public-art/gallery/south-osborne-street-banners