Artists and community members want more art in the northeast. Here’s how it could happen

Sumer Singh made his decision to go to architecture school while sitting at the Genesis Centre in Calgary’s northeast.

Years later, he’s being commissioned to bring more life into the city’s most populated and most diverse area, with a sculpture that will be displayed at that same recreation and community centre.

Speaking to community members there on Wednesday, Singh shared his connection to the city, the northeast, and his hope for more art in the quadrant.

“I used to come here, to the YMCA, to the library, and I was lost in life,” said Singh, explaining that he was at the time a working engineer, but felt he needed a change.

“This [place] is where I had moments of introspection … and decided that I was going to go into architecture,” added Singh, who now has a thriving practice as an artist, architect, designer and engineer.

The artist will be creating a sculpture that will be displayed at the Genesis Centre in Martindale through the City of Calgary’s northeast public art initiative.

It will be one of several projects through the initiative. Three initial works  — a bench, a picnic table and a bike rack created by, respectively, Day Pajarillo, Apiow Akwai and Vikram Johal — are expected to be installed early in 2023.

Members of the public were given the opportunity on Wednesday to meet Singh at the recreation centre and discuss and vote on elements of the sculptural design and materials he might incorporate.

In comparison to other quadrants, public art in the northeast is something more of a rare sight. There are murals across the city’s downtown core, but one resident who attended the event said it’s time his home community gets the same treatment as the rest of Calgary.

“It’s not much artistic like, comparatively to downtown, to the southeast, to north, northwest and southwest,” said Maninderpreet Singh, who lives in the northeast community of Skyview.

“You know like if even if you go to the southeast there’s pictures on the walls, but there’s no pictures in the northeast … all the walls are vacant. Those walls need to get painted.”

In terms of ideas for his planned sculpture, Sumer Singh said that he’s trying not to put too much of his own influence on the art. He said he wants the inspiration and the idea for the final piece to come from those in the community.

The Gensis Centre and the people who frequent the facility, Sumer Singh said, are a reflection of Calgary. With a library, a community gym and a centre for newcomers, it’s somewhere that brings together people of all ages and from all walks of life.

He’s hopeful that he can give back to the communities and its residents through his art.

“The real core is where the people are at, and the people in northeast are actually the people that are the backbone of the city,” said Sumer Singh.

“I think we really need to give the northeast the same treatment that we give to the rest of the city as well.”

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