There will be a special ceremony taking place on St. Thomas Street this morning when a new addition to the Art in Public Places program is unveiled.
Installed yesterday on the St. Thomas Surgical Clinic building, Colour Fields II by renowned local painter Angela Grootelaar is effectively a replacement for the original Colour Fields mural that was a fixture on the building that has housed The Bookstore on Perron Street since 1998.
The 210-centimetre by 730-centimetre mural is her unique rendition of a view by a river, with the blue and purple trees that combine her love of expressionism and Fauve art. It features the same subject matter and colour scheme as the first one but it is not an exact replica.
"It's very gratifying to see it finally being put up. It's a gorgeous location. I'm very happy with it. It's really quite an honour for me to have this done again."
The circle of life
This installation comes on the heels of the removal of the original Colour Fields. Over time, that work fell victim to the elements and within the last year it became largely obstructed from view by the construction of a new condo development. The decision was made this summer to take it down.
Grootelaar said that she wasn't even aware of the declining state of the first mural as it was mostly obscured from the street.
"You're less inclined to have a close inspection when you drive by."
She first contacted Heidi Alther, the city's visual arts co-ordinator, to enquire about having it moved to a different location. When they went to view the mural, "I was absolutely shocked when I saw how badly deteriorated it was," Grootelaar said. "She asked me if I'd be interested in doing it again."
"It was not only a paint problem. It was also that the support had gone as well. It wasn't structurally sound any more," Alther explained. "Murals have a life span of about 10 or 20 years. There's new conservation methods being developed every year. We've really moved leaps and bounds in the last 10 years."
She said the first mural actually lasted a long time, at 12 years. The city is optimistic that this new mural will survive to see 2030. It is made with more durable materials, is located on the north side of the building to avoid as much of the elements as possible, and even includes a kind of trough system to drain rainwater away from the face.
"Either way it can be tricky. It's outside in Alberta. Where you don't get the sun, you get the north wind and the rain. You take your chances whatever direction you place it in. There are many considerations. We believe we've done everything to the best of our abilities."
Despite the loss of the original Colour Fields mural, this new installation bodes very well for the state of the Art in Public Places program. Currently there are about 260 pieces in the program's inventory with outdoor and non-portable pieces now exceeding 20. That figure includes the recent acquisition of the five granite sculptures by Cree artist Stewart Steinhauer, all now permanently located behind St. Albert Place.
Those were recently purchased for $232,500 while the cost of Colour Fields II was budgeted at $40,000.
