Blackfoot artist Ryan Jason Allen Willert stands in front of his latest mural, entitled 'Magpie,' for Red Deer's Meet the Street Arts & Culture Festival. The mural is located, along with several others, in an alley just south of Ross Street off of Little Gaetz Avenue. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

vibrancy

Mural series livening up downtown Red Deer ahead of Meet the Street festival

Jul 28, 2021 | 2:18 PM

Two downtown Red Deer alleys are set to wow and ‘activate’ the public.

Fifteen murals are either complete or partially complete as part of a City of Red Deer initiative called the Meet the Street Arts & Culture Festival.

The festival itself runs Sept. 3-5, but artists have been hard at work over the summer to bring the walls downtown to life.

“We’re looking to activate two of our alleys where we’re seeing quite a bit of negative activity,” said Bobbi-Jo Stannard, Community Development Superintendent. “A collaboration was struck with our businesses and agencies downtown, as well as with The City of Red Deer, to have a conversation about what would make our alleys a better place to be, and how to bring more people downtown. We have speakers and lighting now, as well as the murals.”

A new mural in downtown Red Deer by Sylvan Lake artist Jaimie Cooney, with more space to create in the future. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

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The two alleys receiving the attention are 49.5 and 50.5, east off Little Gaetz Avenue, just south and north of Ross Street. Stannard says the City’s contribution is about $200,000, though all the paint has been donated by Benjamin Moore. More details are to come on what’s happening during the festival.

Stannard adds that the murals and alleyways are intended to be inclusive and for everyone.

More than 100 artists applied to be part of the festival’s mural aspect, including local Blackfoot painter Ryan Jason Allen Willert, whose art can be seen across the city and province.

Willert chose this opportunity to highlight the magpie, an animal of luck and great significance to Indigenous people.

“It’s an animal that is not respected the way it should be. I think a lot of people can resonate with that; they don’t feel like they fit in, or (feel) like they’re not adequate, but in our traditional ways, we try to teach people to have unconditional love for themselves,” explains Willert, whose son’s Indigenous name is ‘Magpie.’ “A lot of people look at it as a pest, but if we looked at it in a good way and appreciated its significance to the ecosystem, we’d have a bigger appreciation for it, and people in general.”

Willert equates that sentiment to the historical treatment of Indigenous people.

“A long time ago and now, we haven’t been really appreciated. We were pushed aside, put in residential schools, and treated like we were a problem to what they called progress,” says Willert, whose father was taken to a residential school. “But we were a huge support to the ecosystem and to community. Everyone has their place in life, we just have to appreciate that.”

Caitlin McDonagh, an artist from Victoria and Montreal, says mural work is a passion of hers for its increased accessibility and visibility.

“Not only is it more people actually seeing my work, but it’s something that’s a shared experience for everybody. It’s one of the best ways to get to know a place,” she says. “My goal (with this mural) is to create a serene, lush forest in the downtown, and I really like that contradiction between city buildings and then you come around the corner and it’s a bright nature moment.”

Caitlin McDonagh, a Victoria & Montreal-based artist, will have this mural complete by Aug. 2 in an alley just north of Ross Street, off of Little Gaetz Avenue. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

Additionally, the Downtown Business Association is running a contest called Snap! Downtown.

The contest invites Red Deerians and visitors alike to take a photo of one of the new downtown murals, and submit it. Voting will then determine the winners. More details are here.

More information on the artists, festival and alleyway improvements is at reddeer.ca.