With only three members, the City of Moose Jaw’s murals committee is considering revamping its focus to include sculptures and artwork to generate more interest in the group’s activities.
The group — composed of two residents and city council representative Coun. Heather Eby — met for its monthly meeting on March 25. Agenda items included a presentation by murals artist Grant McLaughlin, a proposal to refurbish the mural on the former Legion building, a possible new home for a Chinese mural, and presentations from city administration.
The committee discussed the topics but did not decide anything since one voting member was absent.
Derek Blais, director of parks and recreation, spoke to the committee about developing a public art policy that would revamp the group’s focus to include public sculptures and works of art, Eby said. The group discussed the proposal and decided to work in that direction for the next few months.
“That was interesting. And that, I’m thinking, might actually spark new interest in the community,” she continued. “We need more than three people on that committee, really.”
There is also the possibility that the murals committee could work with Tourism Moose Jaw or other tourism-related groups as part of the efforts to modernize the committee’s structures.
“The people on the committee are really passionate about it and really excited to get some things going, but we just kind of feel like our hands are tied when (it’s) such a small committee (and has two new members) … ,” Eby added. “The murals committee has been alive in Moose Jaw for 30 years old. I guess to refresh it wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
The community artist
McLaughlin updated the committee about his work to refurbish existing murals and helped members understand the committee’s history during the last three decades, since he has been associated with the group and its activities from the start.
Eby was excited that McLaughlin was willing to be an advisor and help refocus the committee’s efforts.
“To keep this thing going properly, we really need the historical context of it, and he knows the logistics of putting a mural up and how to make it last,” she said.
“He said when they first started the committee 30 years ago, they never thought about ever having to repair a mural. They just thought, ‘Well, let’s just put these murals up.’ And then 10 years down the road (they said), ‘Oh my goodness, these things are in disrepair, now what are we doing to do?’”
It’s great to have murals in the community, but there’s no point in having them if they are not preserved, continued Eby. McLaughlin’s institutional knowledge will be valuable, especially since the murals committee is now more focused on restoration and repair than creating new murals, which cost $25,000 per piece.
“So I’m excited about the potential of the public art policy … because I think it could really ramp things up. We could get a couple of sculptures and we could get some other funky things in our downtown and parks,” she added. “And I think that’s exciting.”
The committee has set aside nearly $10,000 this year to help McLaughlin make repairs to existing murals.
In his report to the group, McLaughlin noted that his design for “The Lost Murals” project in 2017 cost $20,000, while it cost $900 to install, caulk, and touch up the Canada 150 mosaic mural during that same year. Meanwhile, in 2016, it cost $392 to touch up five other murals throughout the community.
