Community builds mural and spirit

Times Contributor  

 

The Up-cycling workshop put on by Hope Bridges Society has created a plastic card mural that has brought Strathmore business and individuals together. Hope Bridges is a society formed around the universal desire to belong. Its vision is to strengthen community bonds, using arts to promote connection as well as wellness through participation and inclusion. The society puts on several workshops that go on throughout the year, one of which is called Go Green, Up-cycling. 

“Up-cycling is taking something recyclable and turning it into something beautiful and useful,” said Wanda Reinholdt, Hope Bridges coordinator. 

In this workshop, participants have been working on individual projects as well as a community project. The current community project Up-cycles used plastic gift cards from local businesses and has turned them into a mural. The businesses have no use for these cards after they have been turned in, so they are usually thrown away. 

“(The mural is) like a tile mosaic design,” said Johanna Jackins, Up-cycling Facilitator, “We’re taking the plastic cards and cutting them into two inch squares and gluing them onto the design, so when you look at the whole thing it will be like a mosaic.” 

The canvas for this mosaic is on old screen door, painted and fitted with plywood, so very few new materials have been used to create this work. As well, the brightness of the gift cards makes for an exciting piece of art. 

“Some of (the cards) have beautiful graphic designs on them so it makes for a really beautiful colourful design,” said Jackins. The mural depicts a blue sky with white clouds and different coloured kites and is made up of almost 700 squares. 

The class has been working on this community project since the workshop started in October, and it has taken approximately 70 hours to construct. This project has united the ten individuals that are part of the Up-cycling workshop, eight local businesses as well as many other people in the community. 

“From a coordinators perspective… and from the perspective of the board, what the mural has done is bring community together with individuals,” says Reinholdt, “it’s drawn all sorts of people together that wouldn’t necessarily get together naturally which is our mandate.”

On completion, the mural is set to travel from business to business to be displayed in their store for a week to 10 days. 

“(The businesses are) all really excited about seeing what the end result was with these cards,” said Jackins, “they’re all very willing to have the mural displayed in their store.”

The mural will also be visiting places in the community like the Strathmore Public Library, as well as two events: the Strathmore Regional Art Collective Arts and Sounds Festival in September and the Hope Bridges Gala in October. 

“Our Hope Bridges mandate is to connect people, it’s our top priority and so this mural has done it, because not only is it bringing together the people that come to the Up-cycling workshop on a weekly basis but it’s also bringing together the businesses to help the individuals build the mural,” said Reinholdt. 

“It’s just developing community spirit, there’s a lot of pride that’s being generated because so many people have contributed to this piece.”