DETAILS
Celebrities who contributed to the train engine mural include Jann Arden, Rick Mercer, Atom Egoyan, Sarah McLachlan, Sam Roberts and the Sam Roberts Band, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Clara Hughes, Susan Aglukark, Roméo Dallaire, Su Ling Goh, Vladimr Horik, Ryan Smyth, Fernando Pisani, Lanny McDonald, Glenn Hall, Walk Off the Earth, Rusty "Bonecrusher" Malinoski, Brienne Thiessen-Eaton, Robbie Malinoski, Michelle Stilwell, Jamie McLennan, Kyle Chipchura, and Lyndon Rush.
Night of Artists, casually known as NOA by its fans, is a fantastic feast for the senses even if it is a huge misnomer. Night? Four days of artists is more like it: four days that kicks off with the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts Awards tomorrow then goes on to include an artwalk, a festival, performances, workshops, art auctions, art demos, a magazine launch, an art showdown, a painting party, and an art yoga class.
The 21st annual celebration will have dozens upon dozens of visual artists and performers making the Enjoy Centre live up to its name. It’s a fiesta and an extravaganza and a bonanza all wrapped up into one.
In short, this thing is big. Did I miss anything, Phil? The unveiling of a mural, you say?
“Our goal was to try to create an art piece that would unite all of Canada,” said organizer Phil Alain, referring to the Canada Mosaic Mural project that started in 2015 by the team at Mural Mosaic as a way of marking the country’s sesquicentennial last year.
It’s nearly impossible to fathom the scope of this one project. Mural Mosaic is well practised at organizing hundreds of professional and amateur artists to each produce one small square tile painting then take all the tiles and fit them together like a giant jigsaw puzzle where the end result is a much larger image.
The Canada Mosaic Mural puts them all to shame.
This one project was 10 years in the planning and is now in its third year as a work in progress. The team hoped for 150 towns and cities to participate but ended up with closer to 100.
Under the leadership of head muralist Lewis Lavoie, they designed murals representing each of those communities as a train car. When all of them are completed, they will all become one mega mural of a complete train, painted by tens of thousands of contributors, with hundreds of thousands of individual tiles.
The engine of the train will get its grand reveal on Friday. People might want to pay attention to the names of some of the engine’s celebrity contributors.
They speculate that it could be one of the world’s largest collaborative and inclusive murals ever created, if not the granddaddy itself. If they were somehow able to assemble the entire train in one continuous mural, it would be more than 365-m wide and 2.5-m high.
“The mural will represent a cultural mosaic, a time capsule, a visual portrayal of history, an art masterpiece from the soul of the nation. An art piece that fifty years from now, may inspire another generation, who will in turn be able to celebrate through the mural, and maybe take it upon themselves to add to this memory,” states the Mural Mosaic’s website.
Julie Kaldenhoven herself produced a number of the tiles and will also be leading the weekend workshops to complete a few hundred more of the individual squares.
“It really blows my mind,” she proudly said of the project, remarking on the phenomenal effort put forth by everyone who was involved. “I didn’t even know all of the stuff going on behind the scenes. There’s some amazing people on this time that have just jumped over mile-high fences. I’m just in awe.”
“It’s exciting but it’s sad because it’s going to be over.”
It’s not over yet though. Alain said it would still be going strong probably until the fall.
That’s just the start of the art
The unveiling comes during Friday’s gala that will also see performances by CHANCE, the St. Albert Singers as well as Mercury Opera, plus performance art and dance performances. If that wasn’t enough, Lewis Lavoie himself will go head-to-head with Denise Lefebvre, Oksana Zhelisko, Karen Bishop and Igor Postash for the Ultimate Live Art Showdown. Alain calls it an “epic painting duel” but one with a good heart underlying it.“They’re going to have a battle, all painting a painting within the first hour of the evening. The paintings will be auctioned off to help out a couple of other art members of our family who are currently battling cancer. The show has a close family; we like to look after our own.”
For Alain, celebrating family is as important as celebrating art. The Night of Artists is the first major artwalk of the season and as such it brings the painters together for the first time in months like a spring reunion ritual.
“The summertime is a really busy time for artists because there are so many festivals and everything. Over the winter, we kind of all focus on creating. The spring is just such a great time to all start to get back together again. It’s like a celebration or a kickoff to the rest of the year.”
The indoor artwalk features dozens of artists proudly displaying and selling their creations.
Painter Memory Roth said that joining the event in 2013 has been one of the best things she has done for her art career.
“I have been in awe, inspired, and have learned so much over these past years from some of the most talented, generous and kind professional artists whom I have come to call my friends. It has made such an impact in my life, from winning the magazine cover in 2014, to having my art along with the art of the other NOA artists travel the country in the NOA magazine each year, to meeting all the wonderful people that come through the show,” she said.
“It is so great when someone comes into my booth, looks at my art and relays a story or a memory of their own that my piece has evoked from them, one that brings them joy. There is nothing that makes me happier than to bring happiness into someone else’s life through my art, for me, this is what it’s all about.”
Painter Jared Robinson agrees.
“I love the NOA show for two reasons. One, it’s an outlet to share and sell my work with others, and two, it is a fantastic community of artists that support and encourage one another. It’s important to be inspired by others, and to share what comes from your inspiration,” he said.
The fun continues through Saturday with more performances by Benjamin Williams, Natalie Bryson, Lorna Lampman, and Ian St. Arnaud, plus a free art yoga class on Sunday, followed by a Red Pepper Painting Party led by artist Denise Lefebvre.
More details, including ticket purchases, can be found at www.NightofArtists.com.
