Art alley mural going up at corner of 101 Street and 12 Avenue. (Facebook/Downtown North Battleford Business Improvement District)

By Keaton Brown

add some colour

Art alley project set to add unique interactive design to downtown North Battleford

Jul 27, 2020 | 1:05 PM

The City of North Battleford will be more colourful in the coming weeks.

The North Battleford Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) is bringing back its art alley program for 2020.

Misty Lavertu, executive director for BID, said the art alley project is a collaboration between the city and the BID.

“Our goal is to find local talent, or utilize local talent and showcase them in a part of downtown that needs beautification,” she said. “Basically it is the city and the BID trying to build a positive downtown trying to use our local talent.”

Some of the most notable art pieces from the program’s past are the side of Moon’s Kitchen and the side of the Western Financial Group building. Lavertu said they were very happy to find a central location for this year’s installment with the Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre.

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“That is why we picked the location that we did this year, because we want it to be in a spot that everyone sees. That 101^st and 12th Avenue is a crossing point that regardless of which of the four directions you are coming from, you can see it,” she said.

Lavertu said the BID members were very excited to find a local artist who was talented enough to handle such a large canvas.

“It is a huge space so we are happy we found an artist who feels that she has the know-how and capability to design on such a huge space,” she said.

The artist this year is Azby Whitecalf from Sweetgrass First Nation. Lavertu explained Whitecalf was the perfect artist to represent her community with her art installment.

The artist of this year’s mural, Azby Whitecalf (Facebook/Downtown North Battleford Business Improvement District)

“She is local, her home base is Sweetgrass First Nation. She is a really good, accurate, positive representation of the Indigenous people and their culture and that type of thing. I think people are going to be happy with the design that they see,” she said.

Whitecalf’s design will also be unique in that it will be an interactive piece. Lavertu explained it is being designed to be good backdrop for photo opportunities.

“People can actually go and stand in front and take pictures with it and kind of be a part and have an interaction with her art,” she said.

Lavertu said the BID members are also excited to be receiving an original piece from an up and coming local artist.

“She is not only doing murals on the side of our buildings, she’s also an illustrator and she has got some really cool projects coming out,” she said. “She is definitely going to be around and people are going to be seeing her name in the future so we are just really excited to be getting an original.”

Whitecalf started the project last week and will be taking a break this week. Residents will be able to drive by and see her mural progress and offer their words of encouragement starting again on August 4.

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Keaton.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow