One of my favourite summer experiences took place in one of Winnipeg’s roughest neighbourhoods.
On a drive around town, I spotted the most amazing mosaic mural under construction in a most unlikely location. I made an illegal left turn into an empty parking lot and jumped out with my camera in hand. I happily snapped and came, at the end, to a one-page flyer posted on an unadorned piece of wall. It invited local residents, and any other interested parties, to participate in the creation of the mosaic every Friday and Saturday from one until eight o’clock.
On Saturday, after a midday meal at The Tallest Poppy next door, I happily deserted the family and pulled on my grubby, omnipresent work gloves to join in the fun.
The traffic-stopping mosaic stretches along the northern length of the Red Road Lodge at 631 Main Street, former home of the New Occidental Hotel, one of Winnipeg’s most notorious drinking establishments. The lodge takes its name from aboriginal teachings of “walking the red road”, of following the right path of life. Local developer Richard Walls, in his ongoing efforts to rejuvenate the area, bought the building and transformed the space into safe, clean and dry transitional housing for those recovering from alcohol and drug addictions. The facility offers supportive social services for its tenants and houses the very cool and anarchic The Bike Dump, a community-run bike shop, and Studio 631, offering community members the opportunity to work across a variety of artistic mediums. The Red Road Lodge is one of a series of community development projects that Walls is involved in, including The Edge Artist Village, an artist live/work space and pocket flats in a youth project at PanAm Place in the Exchange District.
I introduced myself to Ursula Neufeld, a mosaicist and Annie Bergen, a muralist, the two artists responsible for the development and implementation of the project. It is a substantial undertaking and there is much work to come. But their patience and persistence, not to mention their larger vision for the mosaic and the health of the community surrounding it, is self-evident. The design of the work emerged from the synergy between the artists, local residents, and related community and social service-based organizations and is entitled Restoration, a nod to the physical community and the people within it. It features an underwater scene (the mermaid is my personal favourite) and animals representing the Seven Sacred Teachings in Aboriginal culture woven into a ribbon of the metaphorical red road.
Ursula put me to work on some filler bits. It’s zen work and I was content to take her direction. It was a pleasure to be a follower and not the leader for a change, especially on a project that was so well organized. I worked alongside Steve, one of the lodge’s residents, for half my shift and then happily worked and chatted beside Ursula for the remainder, picking her brain about the city’s successes and challenges.
Almost all of the locals and residents who passed by commented on the beauty of the emerging mosaic and it was evidently a source of community pride. Unfortunately, on this day, we were unsuccessful in coaxing any to try their hand.
When it was time to head out Ursula and Annie thanked me warmly for stopping by. But, truly, the pleasure was mine.
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