La Raza Group presents
Sept 15 thru Sept. 29, 2007
The Argentinean/Canadian Mural Project
…in the heart of London Canada

History

The artists involved in this project had previously worked side by side on murals in Argentina in 2006, where they made a series of portable murals in the cities of Berazategui, Catamarca and Tucuman. The ‘Argentinean-Canadian Journey for Peace and Friendship’ was organized in Argentina by Juan Bauk, who is the Chairman for The Regional Movement of Muralists of Argentina.

Preliminaries

La Raza was overwhelmed by both the generosity and the commitment displayed by the organizers, artists and supporters throughout this exchange.
Main Street, the Business Association of the City of London, financially supported this large wall mural project. Sylvia Curtis-Norcross of La Raza Group was the London co-ordinator, negotiating all of the key elements that made the exchange possible, including securing the funding, locating a site, coordinating flights and room and board for artists, and rounding up volunteers. Richard Tetrault was the site coordinator.

The chosen wall, located on King Street on the north side of La Galeria, a large shopping centre in central London, is over two blocks long. The mural covers about 5000 square feet of the wall (15-16’ high and about 350 feet long) The design was drawn freehand onto the two-block long concrete wall from scaled drawings. The preliminary concepts were by several artists from Argentina, with artists from La Raza Group contributing in later stages. Some panels were designed collaboratively, with a great deal of support coming from community volunteers, local artists and high school groups. The maquette was not ever totally ‘finalized’, in part due to a desire to bring a collaborative element to the work that would profile the city and environment of London. Several days were spent in altering/fusing the two concepts that were chosen. The difficulties of working without a finalized design remained a challenge throughout.

The mural required twelve days to complete, with 7-15 artists working full ten-hour days. It was finished on the day of its inauguration, on Sept. 28th, 2007.

Materials and Process

Materials were ordered in advance. The wall was primed with flat plastic primer over brick and concrete, on a good quality surfaced wall. We used about 30 gallons of Enviroguard acrylic latex paint, from General Paint. This paint holds up extremely well, and comes with factory-mixed primary colors. On completion it was sealed with two coats of Amershield Epoxy Sealer. We also used a dozen rollers, extensions, about fifty brushes, and various other tools for application. Two rolling scaffold units were assembled and dismantled each day, adding 1/2 hour to 1 hour to the labour. A storage/studio space inside the mall was invaluable for use as a meeting place, lunchroom and cleanup and storage.

Challenges/Issues

-Working alongside a busy and extremely noisy and dusty causeway added to the challenges of the site. It was probably bad for our lungs and hearing. It was hard to incorporate other artists in a design that is treated as a large freely handled painting, making it a challenge to involve others. However, many students and volunteers persisted and lent a valuable had throughout.
Language was sometimes an issue, and artists had to work hard to collaborate.

Summary

The success of this collaboration is as much due to our manner and abilities for working within the community as it is the quality/artistry of the work itself. Both are crucial to any public mural project.

Artists from Argentina:
Juan Bauk
Marcelo Caprita
Gerardo Cianciolo
Sylvia Albuixech
Daniel Zimmermann
Maria Sansotta
Ornella Yori

La Raza Canada artists:
Sylvia Curtis-Norcross-coordinator
Alberto Cerritos
Esther Rausenberg
Francis Caprani
Gerald Pedros
Richard Tetrault
with London artist Brian Saby

Dennis Siren has made an excellent DVD of the entire process (Saby Sirens productions, The Argentinean Mural Project, Streaming Media) and Wendy Saby and Esther Rausenberg photographed the project throughout. La Raza Group thanks the London Main Street Business Association, the City of London, and all the volunteers for their support and vision.

Sponsored with vision by: the London Downtown Business Association.

Images