A public art project connecting Portage la Prairie to 149 other communities across Canada as part of our country's 150th birthday celebrations was unveiled at Stride Place today.
The curtain was pulled on the long-awaited Public Art Committee-led Canada 150 mosaic mural. The display is made up of 680 tiles and showcases an indigenous man portaging across the Prairies on a boxcar. Other key community features highlighted in the work are a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star training jet, like the one over looking Crescent Lake, Canada Geese and Bulrush/Canola crops.
Portage la Prairie was one of 150 communities across the country selected to produce a mural for Canada 150.
“The design was put together by the Public Arts Committee based on suggestions from the community, on what they felt best represented Portage,” explains Portage Regional Recreation Authority general manager David Sattler. "Each mural is designed as part of a rail boxcar so when they're connected, they will appear as one long train stretching from coast-to-coast."
Yvette Cuthbert, lead of the mural project and former member of the Public Arts Committee, says planning for the mosaic began two years ago. The project cost upwards of $24,500, including a $10,000 grant, with fundraising making up the remaining $14,500. After funding was secured to move forward, community groups were contacted to help paint the piece over a four-day period in November 2016.
“We had people from the Herman Prior Centre, the Portage Terriers, city councillors, students, the Portage Friendship Centre, doctors, people from the indigenous communities,” explains Cuthbert. “We tried to get as much of a diverse representation as we could for when we held our large paint in November.”
“It was completed and covered in secret since then,” continues Cuthbert. “So it's great to finally see it out in the open.”
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