Sask. town using mural paintings to reinvent itself ahead of coal mine and power plant closure
The Town of Coronach is preparing to transition its identity as the coal mine and power plant are slated to close in the coming years.
The town said half of the jobs in Coronach are in coal, not including the businesses that rely on the population from the industry. As they prepare to see this identity phased out, a new one is being creating through economic development and beautification.
“We’re trying to develop a downtown core that’s attractive for businesses, attractive for residents and to draw a new life to our downtown,” said Catherine MacKay-Wilson, chief administrative officer for the Town of Coronach.
With this beautification comes community pride. MacKay-Wilson said the project has inspired many with the help of artist Stephanie Bellefleur
“We’re really fortunate to have someone local that understands the landscape, the change that we’re going through with coal transition and our goals of renewing ourselves into a new beautiful town,” she said.
Bellefleur is a contemporary visual artist from Willowbunch, Sask. who mixes fine art elements with street art culture. She describes her niche as murals and community engaged artwork.
This community engagement involves hosting workshops at the school and having the students paint two murals for the town.
“It was really important for me to allow the young youth of this community to feel like they have ownership in some sort of way to this mural,” said Bellefleur.
The “Land of the Living Skies” mural was created in collaboration with the Coronach Street Festival, SaskPower and Sask Arts.
Bellefleur creating the mural based on elements tied to the community, both from her own knowledge of living in southern Saskatchewan and from the students who attended her workshops.
It features area crops such as lentils and flax, a deer to symbolize local wildlife, and homages to the town’s transition and hope in the form of yin and yang energy and a Crocus flower.
“I actually see this as a beautiful new opportunity to say ‘OK what’s the next best thing for us,’” said Bellefleur, adding she hopes people see peace and relief in the mural.
In the design is also a personal memory for Bellefleur. The Saskatoon berries represent the first time she ever tried them was in the town.
Jacque Chabot has a farm south of Coronach and said she’s enjoyed checking in on the progress whenever she was in the area over the course of the past month.
An artist herself, Chabot said it is an “excellent idea” to involve the community in a project like this because art is needed in schools and communities.
“It’s a really, really nice addition to the Main Street in Coronach,” said Chabot.
In addition to community engagement, Bellefleur’s work also involves mentorship.
Stephanie Bellefleur (right) shows her teenage mentee, Amanda, techniques with an aerosol can. (Gareth Dillistone/CTV News)
Stephanie Bellefleur (right) shows her teenage mentee, Amanda, techniques with an aerosol can. (Gareth Dillistone/CTV News)
Amanda, 15, is a young artist who lives in Coronach. who enjoyed her time working with and learning from Bellefleur.
She hopes the mural will help draw people in the the town.
“Maybe more people will come to Coronach, like start out as touring the town and want to live here,” said Amanda.
The town as three other murals, including the two Bellefleur worked on with the students. The others are located at the curling rink and on another shop, the Whistlestop Store, downtown.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.