|
|
|
|
349 Portage Avenue
The artwork for this Transit Controller Box was rendered in 2008 by Sarah Collard, with sponsorship by Downtown Winnipeg BIZ and Take Pride Winnipeg. The box was replaced in 2018 with one without artwork promoting Indigenous Gsrdens. Original Notes Follow:===
"Winnipeg Free Press"
One of 7 Transit controller boxes in 2008 commissioned by the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ for public art.
In this split screen image all 4 sides of the box may be viewed.
Transit Controller Box, 4 sides, wrap around Mural, Oct 2008
One Shot Enamel, oil based, on metal, Bull's Eye Primer
26" x 70", 49" x 70" cube
l-r: Portage Avenue, Winnipeg Free Press Building, 2008; Portage Avenue at Silver
Heights, circa 1900; Portage Avenue, East from Hargrave, circa 1915.
Sarah Collard: "This composition shows progression through the years and focuses on the
development of the newspaper. A young man holds several papers to be delivered, a
familiar sight in town. The old Free Press building on the corner of Carleton and Portage
is kept in its original condition behind a row of trees."
"Winnipeg Free Press employees went on strike while I was painting this Mural which
made it newsworthy on the breaking news section of the website for the Free Press. Each
transit Mural design I did was specifically for its location near a building that it relates to,
this one in particular. Some of the archival photographs (referenced from Manitoba
Archives) used were of a young man riding a bicycle on Portage Avenue at Silver
Heights in 1900, Portage Avenue looking east from Hargrave St. in 1915 which is a wrap
on 2 sides and can be seen from traffic traveling west and a contemporary photograph of
the Winnipeg Free Press Building in 2008 which is on the inside facing the present day
Free Press. The colours match the red brick and green trim and can be found throughout
the rest of the Mural. This is particularly close to Portage Place food court and is outside
the park of the Air Canada building. I enjoyed a sausage from an outdoor food stand on a
sunny day. When I got interviewed it was when I was painting at this site. It was aired
on CBC. It made for quite a story as you could see the picketers standing outside the
Free Press."
|
|
|