Many people can’t quite put their finger on how best to tell Ottawa their feelings about supporting tradespeople through these difficult economic times. Now, one woman has some trees she hopes will help.
“We are continuously seeing layoff after layoff after layoff. Alberta’s in a sad state, especially where the trades are concerned. Every day, guys are getting laid off of their jobs with no promise of a good tomorrow in this province,” said Rachel Curry.
The artist, along with Adil Dabagh from Romaya Homes, brainstormed ideas on how they could help. First, she said, was to help make people’s voices heard – a tough task made tougher by knowing not many tradespeople will sit down to write letters to MPs or the PMO.
Curry has a couple of tree paintings for a project she calls We Built Alberta Strong. These ‘Message Trees’ will be set up tomorrow for people to add their thumbprints, and each one of those ‘leaves’ is meant to represent that person’s support as the paintings travel around collecting more and more.
The Message Trees are filled with symbolism, she added: red to represent the blood, yellow for the sweat and tears, and black for Alberta oil, plus it’s surrounded with gold “which is what we’ve given Canada for generation after generation,” she said, referring to Alberta’s offerings to the country’s transfer payment plan. Even the silver metallic panel is symbolic because it reflects the environment it’s in and the people standing in front of it.
Curry doesn’t just feel sympathetic for the industry; she also works in it and comes from a long line of tradespeople too, she says, adding that Canada’s economic woes have hit many people hard and the effect ripples through everything.
People who wish to offer their thumbprints can stop by the Romaya Show Home at 13 Edison Rd. from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 16. After tomorrow, she will accept invitations to travel the pieces around to collect even more thumb-printed leaves, as many as people wish to offer. Eventually, they will end up in Canada’s capital as a gift to the prime minister – a reminder of what all our Alberta and Canadian tradespeople have done for this country and how much they need action to build their industries back up.
The artist hopes to see a lot of traffic to start it off tomorrow.
“Hopefully we will fill that tree. I will paint one tree, two trees, 10 trees, 100 trees if that’s what it takes to get a message through to Ottawa.”
She has also started a Facebook page – search for "We Built Alberta Strong" – as a venue for people to express their thoughts and feelings.
