Murals - PERRY ENTERPRISE ARTS

Bring your donations to the Wood Buffalo food bank and snap a picture of you being an angel for our community.

Location: 10117 King St, Fort McMurray, AB.

Lead Artist: Ruth Perry

Artist Assistants: Sonia Burke Smith and Mettea Adair

Northern Lights: Located at “Kings Lounge” at Keyano College

Collaboration with Street Writer “Sharp”

Traveling Free Wall/ Working with what the public contributed from 6 different locations:

Side A

Side B:

The community Thickwood YMCA multipurpose room:

As a part of my residency I had hoped to map out a program that addresses the dispute of street writing we have in our town.

This mural was a success in combining street writer painting with a more traditional style of painting.

Five young artists gathered together to create a socially acceptable piece. This opportunity gave them the confidence in their own style and proved how they can work together within a group. The outcome has led to more opportunity for young artists to see their work can be done in public legally while practicing their own style of art.

Although a traditional art gallery is a public place, the idea of attending a gallery is still perceived as an elitist group.

The importance of creating this mural in an off-site of gallery public location relates to street writer styles and how it belongs to the public.

Ruth was in collaboration with Artists: Shannon Cocoran, Athena Wyse, Sharp, Liam De Bruin, Mettea Adair, Sonia Burke-Smith.

Thank you to Elders Cecile and George for:

Seven Teachings Mural at St. Ketari School in Partnership with The Boreal Artist Institute and Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo

The surrounding triangle canvas pieces were painted by the students in guidance from myself, The center piece created by Claire Beaulieu-Antoine.

There is a picture missing that is a portrait of St. Ketari that Claire guided one of the students to create- please be patient while I am building this new website.

The Seven Teachings Together

Buffalo in the Center represents respect.

Eagle or the Loon that represents Love

The Beaver that represents Wisdom

To explain this project in words is difficult I do believe Executive Director of The Boreal Artist Institute Sonia Burke-Smith says it best in this letter:

The seven teachings are truly universal but we made the commitment to go with Indigenous Teachings as part of our reconciliation process with our Indigenous People. As artists we recognize the value of this knowledge. It’s a history we all have been denied in educational settings yet we believe it is important to learn and to learn from Elders in the community from an Indigenous perspective not an interpretation of what we think it is about.

Cecile and George were the most important part of our creation process. It was their knowledge of history,the sharing of natural items and the songs that were the inspiration behind the creation of the mural. The starting of each session with Cecile and George explaining the teachings from historical knowledge,passing of items related to the teachings such as animal pelts allowed the students to touch nature in a way they never had and to hear the songs Cecile sang bout each teaching taught us all so much about what it is the relationship with ourselves to the world around us.

I believe we all walked out the door with greater respect for each other and with the natural world. It really highlighted the connections we have with each other and with the earth. Our youth mentors and our PDD Adult mentor also got such valuable life skills and work experience that allowed them to shine as they shifted into leadership roles. We loved the way they framed framed each teaching so beautifully and taught it so everyone in the room no matter our age walked out learning something and will stay with all of us for a lifetime.

Those teachings were then transformed into Art through the guidance of Ruth and Claire with the students. In teams they decided the images ,prepared canvases and painted them with Ruth and Claire overseeing the process and giving the teams guidance and teaching techniques. Claire and I did the final finishing touches such as cleaning up lines and sealing the paintings.

There were many relationships formed through the program and it was truly a blessing to watch these relationships grow over the course of the program. I believe that we all came out better people through this journey and I attribute that to Cecile and George’s teachings.

It is our hope that Cecile and George get to share their knowledge with the community even more as they both have so much to offer . It is also our wish that Ruth and Claire get recognized for their beautiful artistic talents and we see more of their work in the community as beautification is what creates ordinary public spaces into extraordinary. Our dream would be to put this amazing team together again…

I also want to express a special shout of thanks and gratitude for Dixie taking the art work with her over evacuation and for cleaning it up so it wouldn’t be lost. You touched my heart with your words that it could never be replaced and brings me back to core mandate of this program. We can’t replace a culture’s knowledge and traditions we with our own interpretations of it because it is irreplaceable. We learn best from the source and my hope is in the future more Indigenous Elders, cultural workers and artists are invited to be part of schools on a regular basis.

From Sonia Burke-Smith: Executive Director of The Boreal Artist Institute

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