Art in the Streets
This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to work as a mural coordinator at The Waterfront District BIA. The work was unlike anything I’ve done before. I wrote emails, I had extended coffee breaks, I worked with quite possibly the best team I could’ve asked for, and I learned about the many secret treasures in the streets of Thunder Bay. These treasures are, of course, public art projects, which Thunder Bay is home to many of.
It’s easy to bypass the tourist destinations in the city, especially if you’ve lived in Thunder Bay you’re whole life. Routines are routine for a reason, and it’s difficult to set aside time to deviate from the norm and visit the Amethyst Mines thirty kilometers away. As for public art, I had seen the red metal fisherman and fish on the May Street bridge, and noticed the designs on the electrical boxes near some intersections, but I never sought it out before. It wasn’t until my summer job that I realized we in Thunder Bay are completely surrounded by art. Over at Superior Screen Printing, artist boy Roland takes his black spray paint to the brick wall to complete the finishing touches on a human sized cartoon pig with numbchucks.
Surrounding it is a cat with a helmet on a toxic-looking fish, a bunny winking as it rides away on a carrot scooter, and a girl with poofy green pigtails and an apple-core battle axe. It is the most entertaining piece of art I’ve seen in a while, in all its pink, orange, and green glory. He says he found inspiration from remembering “watching Saturday morning cartoons by the glow of the TV” and creating the characters in his head. He says that the mural is a boy watching TV and “All the characters are coming out of the tv running a muck through his room.” The wall’s height is impressive, boy Roland needs to climb scaffolding to reach the top of the piece. boy Roland’s murals do not end at this one.
When taking a stroll through the Waterfront District, you may have noticed the fullscale mural on the back of the building across from the Casino. This piece was handpainted over a decade ago by a group known as Die Active Art Collective, to which boy Roland was a part of. “I painted this silly sasquatch that was working behind a desk, I thought it was funny to take this wild amazing thing and give him a desk job,” he beams. He says there is “so much joy” when it comes to public art. When he paints he can hear people walk by, ask questions, and “hear the community [take] ownership of the mural”. Its how he connects with people in and outside the art scene.
His work is also featured in Graffiti Alley, an entire street with murals painted on the backs of the buildings that face Red River Road. Walking through the alley is somewhat otherworldly. What was once a back alley is now hundreds of square feet of giant designs, which took careful craftsmanship and dozens of hours and people to create.There’s murals, sculptural installations, vinyl wrappings on electrical boxes, and decoration everywhere in the city. Its important that we continue to create and invest in these sites: art is joy and art is beautiful. Creating beautiful spaces is a necessary feature of city planning. Public art is foundational to the flavour of any city, it makes streetscapes interesting and encourages people to spend more time sightseeing and getting out in the community. So don the khakis and camera and take a trip to see the murals around town, it is in our nature to love wall art, what with cave paintings in our blood and all.