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735 Selkirk Avenue (2)
This 2011 rendering was Rachel O'Connor's first venture into the world of Mural Art. The piece was entitled 'Invite the Attempt'. The stucco on this wall deteriorated badly and was scraped off in the summer of 2013.
Original notes follow:===
Rachel O'Connor: "I happened upon an ad on Kijiji one day saying artist wanted for
Mural on Selkirk. When I saw it, it had only been posted a half
hour earlier but it already had about 40 hits. I emailed him right
away and attached images of some of my work. He seemed to like
my work, and I decided to drive down there that night to get a
better idea of what the wall looked like. He liked my initiative, I
guess, because he gave me the wall."
"I wanted to have this opportunity to have this blank canvas. The
storeowner said that I could paint whatever I wanted but that it had
to have an aboriginal Manitoba theme. Other than that I had a
good deal of artistic freedom with it."
"The whole experience was so much richer than I thought it would
be because of the interaction with the community and their
reactions to me painting the Mural and knowing that I was working
there essentially on a volunteer basis to beautify that area. Loretta,
who was from the neighbourhood really made the experience for
me, as well as a bunch of the kids from that neighbourhood."
"The kids were interested as well. The whole experience of the Mural
being painted and using art to give these kids confidence (Ed note-
adjacent to the painted Mural was an area of wall where the young
children decorated) and express something and have it right there
in their own neighbourhood. Art as a tool for healing and giving
something to their neighbourhood that they can be involved in
proud of- what a concept!"
"The creature next to the Shaman is kind of a mixture of things from
pieces I had done in school. I wanted a geometric patterned
animalistic thing, almost to make people ask 'what is that'! I liked
the end result. I had to use a really fine brush on really thick
stucco to get the detail. Loretta was a big help here."
"When I rendered the Warrior I had not realized that I had
modelled him on an Ontario Mohawk Aboriginal. I received some
feedback on this from the street; but they all seemed to respect why
I was there, and that it was all OK."
"I didn't get this wall started until late September, and I was very
quickly running out of time at the end. The budget for materials
and wall prep was very small and most of the work was done in
October when it was getting quite cold. I hope the Mural will last,
at least for a few years."
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