Two outdoor street pianos usually tethered outside St. Albert Place were so damaged by the summer’s rain they are being retired.
However, the delightful impromptu recitals will still be part of the landscape. Another donated upright from Don’s Piano Showroom storage takes its place.
Keys for the City, a three-year-old volunteer organization that stations pop-up pianos in pedestrian friendly locations, commissioned Miles Constable to give the latest donation a new facelift.
The St. Albert visual artist, known for creating fluid abstract representations, painted a jazz-themed series. For Constable, Miles Does Miles, was a way to honour the incredibly inventive and talented American trumpeter Miles Davis.
“I loved the connection he made between art and music. I think he listens to jazz when he works and his paintings and technique matches the music,” said Nancy Watt, co-founder of Keys for the City.
“His work is very vibrant and playful and his style is great for a public project like this.”
Constable will use his considerable skill and expertise to turn a street piano into a musical art piece titled VooDoo Music.
VooDoo Music is slated to have an otherworldly, bizarre look. Its colour theme is black, sliver and orange with what Constable calls “haunting looking elements.”
It is a partial homage to the sixties British rock band The Who. Constable hinted he plans to incorporate See Me, Feel Me lyrics from the rock opera Tommy.
“It’s going to have almost a Halloween feel, except for the musical information from The Who. And there’ll be an eye and a mouth,” he noted.
Watt’s invitation to tackle the new street piano came out of the blue.
“When Nancy first asked, I had a bit of trepidation. I’d painted in public places before, but I wasn’t convinced I could pull off something to please myself. But when I thought about it, I realized I could, especially with the new techniques I’ve been experimenting with – spray painting and using a fairly heavy acrylic medium to give it a 3D look.”
Since two pianos are being withdrawn due to weather damage, the city has also asked Constable to use a two-part epoxy to weatherproof the piano.
“The previous pianos hadn’t been treated well enough to withstand the weather.”
Watt explained the previous pianos’ damage resulted from water or high levels of humidity.
“Tarps were taken off for people to play and then weren’t put back on. When you get any kind of significant water in them, it’s almost impossible to repair. The humidity this summer has also been quite high and this causes the wooden parts inside to swell.”
Once the new piano is adorned, it will sit outside St. Albert Place’s front plaza for a few weeks before moving to the Art Gallery of St. Albert.
Constable is slated to start work in St. Albert Place lobby from Monday, Aug. 22 until its completion later in the week. His hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“Come by,” he said. “If I’m terribly engrossed in what I’m doing, you can watch. But I’m a bit of chatterbox and I can talk to people.”
