Edmonton mural festivals help create 10 new art walls this month – Edmonton Journal

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It’s mural season in Edmonton, meaning you can look up — sometimes way up — and watch the face of our city brighten a little right before your eyes.

Between the just-launched Edmonton Mural Festival and the fourth-annual iteration of Mural Massive put on by Grindstone Theatre, at least 10 formerly blank walls around town will soon be full of new colours and concepts.

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Both festivals are running with the passed torch from Rust Magic International Street Mural Festival, which dropped 100 murals between 2016 and 2019 by artists from around the world.

First up on the schedule is Saturday’s Mural Massive, a buffet-style ticketed event featuring comedy, music and live art in Grindstone’s outdoor garden, all at 10019 81 Ave.

MM is also behind two new walls getting going this weekend by local artists, Rory Lee at 10537 82 Ave. and Rahmaan Hameed at 10502 107 Ave. — free to behold, of course.

A 4 p.m. Saturday bike tour starting at Grindstone will show off some of the local work from the past few years and, as in previous years, live artists will be painting panels on site which will end up on nearby walls.

“It’s been a favourite of ours,” says festival director Joses Martin, “to bring all these things together. This year Grindstone Theatre Society actually updated our official mandate to include art and music on top of the theatre and improv.”

Following that, three bands play Saturday night behind Grindstone in the alley — Sour at 5:45 p.m, Kate Stevens at 7:45 p.m. and funk band Carter and the Capitals at 9:15 p.m., after which the afterparty moves inside with DJs Joses, Benk, Otuon and Safi.

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The action in the mural garden east of the theatre, meanwhile, starts at 2 p.m with DJ Truth, followed by comedians throughout the day including Landon Bushell, Jules Baluffi, Brad Semotiuk and Charles Haycock at 10 p.m.

Mixing the night up even more, freestyle rap collective Jung Kings hits that outdoor stage at 6:15, with hip-hop artist Ntwali planting rhymes in the garden at 7:30.

See muralmassive.com for the full schedule and tickets, which run $35.

“It’s Grindstone showing off the connection between all the local arts scenes,” says Martin. “One-stop shopping.”

Looking at the wider Edmonton Mural Festival (EMF), it’s transforming another eight concrete canvasses around the city through Sept. 15 and beyond.

One of the pieces already underway at Allied Parking Lot (10238 104 St.) is a giant collaboration between Rust Magic founders Annaliza Toledo and Jamaican-Cree artist Trevor Peters, a.k.a. Curly Whitebear, with Jakarta artist Bernhard Suryaningrat, who paints under the name Hardthirteen.

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“The woman is a superhero,” says Suryaningrat, who’s been painting walls since 2005. He hopes the female central figure inspires people living in the downtown community, noting its title, The Hero, stands for “hope, equality, respect and offering.”

He’ll also paint a giant bird of paradise in the mural’s top corner.

On the sides, Peters and Toledo are working on graffiti writing designs, including Cree syllabics.

“The piece is important to us because it’s our first project that aligns with our new vision to create powerful murals that can raise awareness to issues we are affected by,” says Peters. “As I embrace my heritage under my new art name, Curly Whitebear, it was really important to share the concept with Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society. As a team, it was a very healing experience and put us in the right mindset to execute the mural.”

At 23m x 53m, it’ll be among the city’s biggest spray-art walls.

Edmonton ex-pats Toledo and Peters, now living in Bali, hope they can keep helping to hook EMF up with more international artists.

“We never gave up on the city,” Toledo says. “Never will.”

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Grinstone’s Mural Massive is just the first of three events Edmonton Mural Festival is pushing in the coming weeks.

Next up, EMF Party in the Park happens Sept. 9, 3-8 p.m. at Alex Decouteau Park (10230 105 St.), also with live art, music and beer gardens.

For this, local muralists Keon Courtney a.k.a. Keon the Artist, and Natasha Martin are adding to the park’s garden wall, where Marcus Coldeway and Josh Harnack painted a mural of boots and legs at the Mural Massive-run event last year.

“We’re following a theme to create something that’s coherent with the original mural,” says EMF’s co-founder Peter Gegolick. “We’re bringing in a face with some hands, using that 3D- and flat-imagery, panelled style.”

Other murals to be painted in the next month include Vancouver’s David Camisa wall on the Whyte Avenue Goodwill (10110 82 Ave.), while local design agency Vignettes’ Leigh Wright and Vinny Le are making work at Triovest Telus Plaza, 10010 100 St. and Adam Kolacz is painting at 6934 104 St. on Calgary Trail.

The murals are being funded in a variety of different ways, including through the Capital City Cleanup Fund and Downtown Business Association.

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“The two massive ones we’re doing had contributions from the building owners,” says Gegolick, “which was fantastic.

“But we are looking at grants locally, provincially and federally.”

The organizer is especially grateful the city just helped them get their own lift and other equipment, which the fest is hoping to share.

“One thing we really want to make clear is we’re here to really help support the mural community,” says Gegolick. “We’re not here to monopolize, we want to make sure there’s enough opportunities for everybody in Edmonton who wants to create a mural.”

“The murals have started and we are already amazed at the artistic talent on display here in Edmonton,” adds Coldeway, creative director of EMF. “Our mission — to create public murals and large-scale installations within the greater Edmonton area while providing mentorship and educational opportunities to aspiring artists — is off to a great start.

“The work we are putting in this year will create a solid foundation for the festival for years to come.”

A third, adult-themed event, Wet Paint, happens 9 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Saddlery Gallery, with a Minbid art auction, and live acts, art and music, exploring new territory.

“It’s nice to kind of pass the torch on and see it being continued,” says Toledo. “We’re back for the first time in a while and we see there’s been an influx of beautification, murals and colour.”

“It’s what we wanted to see happen,” adds Peters, which was to inspire others to think big and take initiative.

“Through all the murals we’ve helped create in the city,” he says, “everyone is definitely ready for more.”

PREVIEW

Mural Massive 2023

Where Grindstone Theatre, 10019 81 Ave.

When Saturday 2 p.m. – 2 a.m.

Admission $35 at muralmassive.com

fgriwkowsky@postmedia.com

@fisheyefoto

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