What once was lost — and then found — is now back on the wall where it always belonged.
The 12 missing pieces of Legacy Mural II have been installed at Servus Credit Union Place alongside 15 panels that were put on display last year, completing a transition that took several years and no small amount of detective work.
The original 27-panel creation was created by more than 20 artists from the St. Albert Painters’ Guild as part of the city’s celebration during the Alberta Winter Games in 1994. The original configuration of Legacy Mural II was installed at the former Campbell Arena. When that site was redeveloped to become a part of Servus Place, the panels were dismantled and sent to storage. When it came time to put them back up, city staffers discovered several were missing.
It took a long time before they decided that the others might be lost forever so they installed what they could at the end of last summer. Remarkably, a city maintenance worker discovered the remaining pieces in a storage compartment just a few months later.
After some deliberation with visual arts co-ordinator Heidi Alther and some of the contributing artists themselves, a new configuration of the entire mural was agreed upon. The final installation took place last week.
“It’s all together now!” Alther enthused. “They look absolutely stunning.”
Alther said the reinstallation was a joint effort with creative input from contributing artists Pat Trudeau, Marilyn Beck and Carol Brown to figure out the best configuration. Everyone agreed that the new arrangement would stay so it was just a matter of logistics before they could decide how to add the remaining pieces in.
“Sometimes it’s just [a matter of] finding the workshop space,” she laughed. “It was really just timing when we could actually do it. That was really the only time we could find.”
Alther added that a professional conservator cleaned the panels before they were installed.
All in all, it’s a huge relief for the city’s arts community.
“It feels great! We’re all celebrating the achievements of those artists.”
Legacy Mural II is located above the staircase at the south end of the second floor of the sports and recreation facility.
