We love this privately commissioned Mural on the North wall of their large garage. The artist is a self-described 'travelling aboriginal gypsy'.
Location: S side bet. Osborne & Nassau; garage at private residence; North Face
Occupant: private residence
District: Fort Rouge
Neighbourhood: Lord Roberts
Artist(s):
Year: 2004
The owners of this garage were only too happy to commission travelling
artist, Les Mawakeesick to paint it. They spoke to us enthusiastically about
their new Mural, and about Les.
"We met him initially through the auto service that I work for. He first dropped by
couple years ago trying to sell his paintings door-to-door. He was trying to get his name
out there. He's been fairly successful in doing that. We've been over to friends' places
that have had his artwork on their walls. He also donates his work to charitable causes to
raise money. He also loves teaching kids to paint. We started buying small pieces of his
artwork at first, things that we liked. We have quite a few now."
"When we built the garage it was just a big white wall and we thought that he could give
us a fair price on it and put his artwork on it! He was excited, too! He started, and didn't
stop. I think it took him two days. He started at six o'clock one evening and he went on
till three in the morning; and then he got up at noon the next day and was finished by
five. He was totally into it and so excited."
"We asked for some ideas and he drew seven or eight paintings. We liked this. He
changed a few details that he could see wouldn't work on this wall. But he wanted
something with this much detail. The creatures on each side of the wolf are the
Thunderbirds, and have significance to his culture. The words on the left translate into 'The One' from his native language,
and I believe that is his native name."
"Our neighbours really seem to like it. We've met so many of our neighbours that we
hadn't met before. We're going to put a spotlight on it. It looks best at night. And we're
really glad to have met Les."
