Made of extruded aluminum, metal box frame and digital printed graphics, _​Afghan Mural_​is a large photographic mural/​sculpture with a structure based on typical, rotating, commercial advertising billboards. These signs normally incorporate two to three advertisements that rotate at paced intervals. Instant Coffee used this basic principle to create a kinetic mural with three sides, but their version functions more like a puzzle that the community centre’s users will be able to move by hand. Each side of the rotating wall mural depicts one special afghan blanket. ​“The sixties and seventies were the primary time when Afghan blankets were made and circulated. They were normally homemade, rarely sold commercially and likely gifted items. Currently, they have found a secondary market are readily available in thrift stores. Economics, accessibility, colour and their relationship to do-it-yourself culture has led Instant Coffee to consistently use afghan blankets we find. They have a ubiquitous sentimentality that draws us to them, and certainly carry with them nostoglia. It is their vernacular aesthetic, punctuated by extreme colour that puts them into the realm of pop and op art. ​“Most North Americans have a relationship to this mid 20^th century domestic craft. They likely have or have had one draped over their sofas, or know someone who made them. For our project for the recreation centre we wanted to tap into this personal, yet shared memory.” — Instant Coffee

Instant Coffee

Instant Coffee is a service-oriented artist collective based in Vancouver and Toronto; they produce artworks, exhibition installations and events.

_​iskotew_​is a sculptural representation of the word ​“fire” in nehiyawewin (Cree language) syllabics: ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ. The colours chosen are based on colours that are seen in both historical and contemporary works as to illustrate the congruencies and survival within Indigenous cultures. The vibrancy of the colours are also congruent with the vibrancy of our cultures and languages. The nehiyawewin word for woman, iskwew, is derived from the word fire, therefore; iskotew connotes the sacred abilities of women, and the often unrecognized labours of Indigenous women who contributed to creating the place now known as Edmonton. ​“Click here”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyMZkFq-YDc/ to see a video about Amy Malbeuf and _​iskotew_​(Video: Conor McNally, Music: Matthew Cardinal) ​“Click here”:http://yegarts.tumblr.com/post/175372570865/introducing-the-%E1%90%84%E1%93%83%E1%90%A4-%C3%AEn%C3%AEw-river-lot-11-artists/ for the YEGArts Blog interview with Amy Malbeuf.

Amy Malbeuf

Amy Malbeuf is a Métis visual artist from Rich Lake, Alberta. Malbeuf has exhibited her work nationally and internationally at such venues as the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops; Contemporary Calgary; Kings ARI, Melbourne, Australia; and Stride Gallery, Calgary. Most recently Malbeuf exhibited at the Dunlop Art Gallery as part of Material Girls as well as in Future Station: Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Alberta. 

Malbeuf has participated in many international artist residencies including at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia; The Banff Centre, Alberta; The Labrador Research Institute, Labrador; and in 2015 was named one of two Canada Council for the Arts fellows at the Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico. Malbeuf lives and works in Kelowna where she is working towards a MFA from the University of British Columbia Okanagan.

The painting pays respect to the land area where Edmonton is located, highlighting the colours of beautiful sky, the stories of the area, and clear waters from far away mountains. The white areas depict the coverage of the winter snowfalls and also the many days of clear skies. Eventually by spring all the snow will melt away. Then comes spring weather, delightful flowers, and farming begins on new life surrounding the city. When the beautiful blue skies become covered with rainy clouds they bring a refreshing blessing to the earth life of plants, and other living things flying or living on the ground. Stunning river valley scenery adds more beauty to the area. All roads lead to the area, Edmonton, as it is a central destiny for all who came before, and who came after. — _​Alex Janvıer, February 25, 2015_.

Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier was born in 1935 and is of Dene sųłı̨né́ and Saulteaux descent. At the age eight, he was sent to the Blue Quills Indian Residential School near St. Paul, Alberta. Janvier speaks of having a creative instinct from as far back as he can remember, and says he was given the tools to create his first paintings at the residential school. Unlike many Aboriginal artists of his time, he received formal training and graduated with honours from Calgary’s Alberta College of Art in 1960. Immediately after graduation, he took up a post at the University of Alberta. 

Janvier’s style is highly distinctive and involves an eloquent blend of abstract and representational images with bright, often symbolic colours. As a First Nations person emerging from a history of oppression and struggle for cultural empowerment, he paints the challenges and celebrations that he has encountered in his lifetime. Janvier credits the beadwork and birch bark basketry of his mother and other relatives as major influences.

His work has been exhibited internationally – most notably as a representative in a Canadian/​Chinese Cultural Exchange in 1985. In January 2004, one of Janvier’s works was displayed in Paris, France at the Canadian Forum on Cultural Enterprise. Nationally, Janvier has created several acclaimed murals; the 450 m² Morning Star at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, is a personal career highlight. 

Janvier is one of Canada’s most significant, pioneering Aboriginal artists. As a founding member of the Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporated (PNIAI) – the so-called ​“Indian Group of Seven” he was key in challenging perceptions of Aboriginal art. His influence continues to be felt by First Nations today. Accolades include three prestigious Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, The Tribal Chiefs Institute, and Cold Lake First Nations, in addition to the Order of Canada and Alberta Order of Excellence. Janvier’s passion and natural talent for creative expression remain strong to this day.

_​Pillars of the Community_​mirrors the diversity of Edmonton’s population and its realities. Placed close to Rogers Place Arena, this artwork is intended to celebrate “…the unsung heroes, the daily faces, the less heard or under-praised that make up the majority of Edmonton society.” The faces depicted represent the generations of women who nurture youth; Elders who share wisdom; the homeless who represent the toils of urban life and social responsibility; artists who observe and reflect the world back to us; youth who represent the future and hope. The use of colour and lines draw connections and help to highlight Edmonton’s reality — urban, vibrant and yet still connected.

Layla Folkmann & Lacey Jane Wilburn

Both born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Lacey and Layla met studying Fine Art at Grant MacEwan in 2007. 

Their passion and dedication to artistic practice formed an inseparable friendship and a professional collaboration. They currently reside in Montréal, recently graduating from Concordia University with great distinction and studying at the L’ecole d’Enseignement Superieure d’Art in Bordeaux, France. 

They currently paint murals with A’Shop inc. as well as independently. Since 2010, they have painted over 40 murals all across Canada as well as Honduras, France and Northern Uganda where they volunteered with an orphanage and an artistic center for the reintegration of former child soldiers.

Rossdale Linear Park is a slice of nature in in an urban setting. _​The Magpies’ Nests_​considers the complex interactions between humans and nature as well as the concept of ​“home”. The welded steel nests on top of four plinths relate to structures found in Edmonton. The pyramid references the Muttart Conservatory; the cube stands in for local industrial buildings relating to ideas of innovation and productivity; the pentagonal prism, or house ‑shape, represents dwellings found the surrounding community; the sphere represents the magpie’s own expertly built domed nest. *Artists’ Statement* According to the CBC, Edmonton is thought to be the black-billed magpie capitol of Canada . Part of the corvid family, magpies are known to be resourceful, loyal and brave. Widely considered one of the most intelligent animals on earth, they are well known as expert nest builders. In the English fairy-tale ​“_​The Magpie’s Nest_”:http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/english/magpiesnest.html/, the magpie was asked by all the birds of the land to teach them the best way to build their nests. After gathering all the birds before her, the magpie began her lesson. But as each stage of her nest-building demo unfolded, one by one each of the birds would leave with only part of the information, thinking that the demo was complete. This is why, it is said that each species of bird builds their nests differently. With our project _​The Magpies’ Nests_​we nod to this fairy-tale and to the expert nest-building capabilities of the black-billed magpie. The welded steel structures (nests), each house one, two or five cast bronze magpies. Each of the nests is painted a bold colour contrasting with the magpies within and the natural surroundings without.

Kevin Sehn & Chai Duncan

Kevin Sehn was raised in Central Alberta at Rocky Mountain House. A graduate of the University of Alberta in Edmonton (BFA Industrial Design/​Sculpture) he has been working as a professional artist and technician since 1993. He was represented in Edmonton at Douglas Udell Gallery from 1996 until it closed in 2016. ​“I like to work between humor and serious discourse, where simple things really aren’t so simple. My themes are explorations of contrasting phenomena or oppositional ideas: light and dark, good and evil, figure and machine, sprinkled with the absurd and underlined by a deep sadness and empathy for the human condition.”

Chai Duncan is an artist, curator and art educator living and working in Nanaimo, British Columbia on the unceded territories of the Snuneymuxw Peoples. Currently he teaches sculpture in the Visual Art department at Vancouver Island University, where he is also the curator at VIU’s VIEW Gallery. In his art practice he continues to work in multiple media, investigating the cultural construction of nature and the overlapping territories that arise where humanity and the natural world meet. He is a collector of found landscapes and is interested in the abandoned, discarded and obsolete built environment. He has lived and worked in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.C, and Texas.

_​Wheatfield with Crows_​created by Konstantin Dimopoulos greets visitors to the Meadows Recreation Centre with a display evocative of Alberta’s agricultural fields. The sculptural installation is composed of five vertical groupings of rods varying in height from 2 to 7 metres. Coloured in golden brown and yellow hues, the rods move with the wind, imparting the effect of a gently waving field of wheat or grass. The rods are placed at the main entrance to the Meadows Recreation Centre, and by the spray deck.

Konstantin Dimopoulos

Konstantin Dimopoulos is internationally acclaimed for his sculptures and installations. 

Based in Australia, he was born in Egypt to a Greek family and grew up in New Zealand. This experience of living in many cultures has directly influenced his work – which examines the question of place and identity. 

His work is featured in public art collections throughout Europe and the United States. In 2011 and again in 2014, he was a featured artist at the Vancouver Biennale of Public Art.

Along Alberta Avenue (118 Avenue), between 79^th and 96^th Street, 29 concrete benches line the avenue as art elements for the streetscape. As a percent for art project in association with the Alberta Avenue revitalization, artists from Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan were invited to submit images to be laser etched in granite panels that were to be inset into the concrete walks in groups of two. Eventually a change was made to the project, for conservation purposes, to inset the panels in concrete benches. 58 artworks were selected for the project, showcasing a range of styles and subject matter. The artworks and artists include: Bench 1: Derek Besant, _​Untitled_​; Mia Weinberg, _​Untitled_​Bench 2: Blair Brennan, _​My Favourite Bench on 118^th Ave_​; Derek Besant, _​Untitled_​Bench 3: Jesse Sherburne, _​Untitled_​; E‑Kim Hung Ho, _​Untitled_​Bench 4: Dawn Candy, _​Marbles_​; Duncan Johnson, _​Groundpound_​Bench 5: Anne Watson, _​Magpie_​; Lorraine Shulba, _​Untitled_​Bench 6: Genevieve Simms, _​Untitled_​; Derek Besant, _​Untitled_​Bench 7: Genevieve Simms, _​Untitled_​; Alexandra Haeseker, _​Untitled_​Bench 8: Genevieve Simms, _​Untitled_​; Blair Brennan, _​The Best Bench on 118^th Ave_​Bench 9: Genevieve Simms, _​Untitled_​; Mieka West, _​The Vegetable Garden_​Bench 10: Duncan Johnson, _​Sprawl_​; Gabe Wong, _​Think, Dream, Speak, Create_​Bench 11: Jennifer Berkenbosch, _​Untitled_​; Stephan Wiebe, _​Jerry Potts Binding Manifest Destiny_​Bench 12: Stephan Wiebe, _​Louis Riel as Architect_​; Brian McArthur, _​Spirituous Flora and Fauna_​Bench 13: Alexandra Haeseker, _​Untitled; Mieka_​West, _​The Clothesline_​Bench 14: Blair Brennan, _​The Worst Bench on 118^th Ave_​; Dara Humniski, _​Ball_​Bench 15: Derek Besant, _​Untitiled_​; Cynthia Führer, _​Untitled #3_ Bench 16: Jennifer Berkenbosch, _​Untitled_​; Trevor Waurechen, _​Spiraling Solitude_​Bench 17: Anne Watson, _​Raven_​; Jennifer Berkenbosch, _​Untitled_​Bench 18: Nickelas Johnson, _​Untitled (bear/​beaver coat of arms)_; Allison Tweedie/​Kevin Sandgren, _​North Migration_​Bench 19: Damien Manchuk, _​Canada Place_​; Brian McArthur, _​Spirituous Flora and Fauna_​Bench 20: Cindy Revell, _Red-Winged Blackbird_​; Josh Holinaty, _​Untitled_​Bench 21: Cindy Revell, _​Owl_​; Cynthia Führer, _​Untitled #1_ Bench 22: Louis O’Coffee, _​Untitled_​; Kerry Stewart, _​Trapped_​Bench 23: Anne Watson, _​Hares_​; Alexandra Haeseker, _​Untitled_​Bench 24: Sean Borchert, _​Strolling Fingers_​; Robert Harpin _​Untitled_​Bench 25: Alexandra Haeseker, _​Untitled_​; Damien Manchuk, _​Alberta Legislature_​Bench 26: Brian McArthur, _​Spirituous Flora and Fauna_​; Nickelas Johnson, _​Untitled (Mountie)_ Bench 27: Nickelas Johnson, _​Untitled (woodland follies)_; Cynthia Führer, _​Untitled Portrait (After Rembrandt) #4)_ Bench 28: Nickelas Johnson, _​Untitled (buffalo)_; Blair Brennan, _​My Least Favourite Bench on 118^th Ave_​Bench 29: Josh Holinaty, _​Untitled_​; Derek Besant, _​Untitled_​

Various Artists

Alexandra Haeseker
Allison Tweedie/​Kevin Sandgren
Anne Watson
Anne Watson
Blair Brennan
Brian McArthur
Cindy Revell
Cynthia Führer
Damien Manchuk
Dara Humniski
Dawn Candy
Derek Besant
Duncan Johnson
Duncan Johnson
E‑Kim Hung Ho
Gabe Wong
Genevieve Simms
Jennifer Berkenbosch
Jesse Sherburne
Josh Holinaty
Kerry Stewart
Lorraine Shulba
Louis O’Coffee
Mia Weinberg
Mieka West
Nickelas Johnson
Robert Harpin
Sean Borchert
Stephan Wiebe
Trevor Waurechen

Artist Becki Chan was inspired by the Highlands Library’s architecture as well as the heritage of the surrounding community to create this ​“mini neighbourhood.” The tiny gabled houses are abstracted miniatures of the most commonly found architectural styles in the area. The installation playfully interacts with the scale of the library and the large elm tree, all the while providing seating that encourages a variety of individual and group activities. The houses are sited to face the street. This orientation fosters an interactive relationship with the sidewalk, and completes the concept of a miniature neighbourhood. Whimsical and imaginative, the simplified forms evoke children’s doodles, dollhouses, and games.

Becki Chan

A native of Hong Kong and Toronto, Becki trained as an artist and an architect, she has worked in a range of disciplines, including web, industrial, interior and exhibition design. Becki served as a producer of the PechaKucha Night Vancouver series for five years. In addition, she is a public artist with a focus on site specific public installations, and she was part of the board for the City of Vancouver’s Arts & Culture Policy Council. Last but not least, Becki was the editor of The Proof on the Vancouver Is Awesome blog. She also really loves her cat.

This installation consists of five standing sculptures inspired by how children freely interpret and imagine the world through play. The tree-like quality suggests the idea of a magical forest, while the ambiguity of the gestural forms allows for other interpretations, such as tentacles, snakes, arms, etc. The openness of the design encourages active and imaginative play in a non-prescribed way and creates a stage for children and people of all ages to create a world around them. The colour palette and design are bold and contemporary, giving the artwork an urban look and making it engaging for all ages. This child-friendly project is a collaboration between the Edmonton Arts Council, local artists, the Child Friendly Edmonton Initiative to involve children living in Edmonton in ways to use art to incorporate playful, child-friendly components within the Civic Precinct. Two locations in the Civic Precinct will include public art pieces that encourage play. These pieces will be installed during the construction of two projects in this area. 1. East Gardens – east side of Churchill Square 2. Centennial Plaza – south of Stanley A. Milner Library The final design for the permanent public child-friendly artwork explores the idea of connection through a set of two sculptures that evoke both nature and whimsical imagery. The sculptures complement each other and connect the two spaces. For more information and updates about the project in progress, please visit the City of Edmonton’s site.

Erin Pankratz & Christian Pérès Gibaut

A professional artist team with more than 10 years of experience in public art, integrating artwork into architectural projects, and creating customized community and team building experiences.

Erin Pankratz (erin​pankratz​.com) was born in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Her body of work includes murals, contemporary mosaics, public art, residential and corporate commissions, and collaborative projects. Two-time SAMA’s Innovation in Mosaic Award winner, she has exhibited in France, Italy, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and the United States. She lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta.

Christian Pérès Gibaut (chris​tian​peres​gibaut​.com) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His body of work includes paintings, murals, mosaics, public art, and collaborative projects. A recipient of the 2019 Cultural Diversity in the Arts grant, he has worked and exhibited in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Colombia, France, Mexico, Uruguay, and the United States. He lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta.

This art piece titled Heartbeat of a Nation honours Edmonton’s connection with the First Peoples of this land. 

Treaty 6 is outlined over the provincial boundary map of present-day Alberta to illustrate the spans of these ancestral lands. The floral kohkom (grandmother in Cree) scarf around the map represents the Treaty colours: Green (grass), Blue (river), and Yellow (sun) signifying that Treaty is forever: for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the river flows. Within Treaty 6, there’s a photo of Poundmaker Singers captured at the unveiling of a sculpture and a Treaty 6 marker at MacEwan University to highlight the responsibility that all Edmontonians have as Treaty people. 

To honour the relationships that the City is building with Indigenous artists, the map features a sculptural mural by Métis artist Destiny Swiderski titled Amiskwacîw Wâskâyhkan Ihâtwin, located at the gateway to Beaver Hills House Park. Finally, throughout the piece, the seven animals symbolize sacred teachings of relationships built upon principles of wisdom, love, respect, courage, honesty, humility, and truth.

Brad Crowfoot

Brad Crowfoot is a Blackfoot and Navajo multi-media artist, born and raised in Edmonton. He’s been active within the arts scene for almost 20 years and is known for capturing Indigenous arts, culture and entertainment through photography and digital media. He went to school for Arts and Cultural Management at MacEwan University and was involved with kihêw waciston as part of the Indigenous Student Council Executives. He got involved with the City of Edmonton and the Indigenous Framework to help showcase the City as a partner.