Council approves stunning mural for Chaplin Street bridge

A mural displaying Swift Current Creek's ecosystem and its surrounding parks will come to life next month underneath the Chaplin Street bridge along the Chinook Parkway.

Swift Current city council unanimously approved the artwork installation on Monday night that Josh Jacobson will create on the east-facing wall.

The mural titled, Echoes of Land, Water, and Sky Prairie Impressions will be added to the Swift Current Art Gallery's permanent art collection.  

"The aim is to beautify the east-facing wall located to the right when travelling under the bridge from Elmwood Park towards the Janie and Helen Rempel Community Gardens," said Swift Current's general manager of cultural and aquatic services Melissa Shaw. 

The colourful piece will feature: a prickly pear cactus flower, crocus, pincushion cactus, wild blue flax, cattails, and Nymphaea water lilies, a tiger salamander, and a walleye.

"It will celebrate the local flora and faunas of the Swift Current Creek and surrounding urban parks, highlighting the mixed grasslands ecoregion where our city is located," she said. "The concrete wall will honour the water, land, and sky of our dynamic ecosystem."

Swift Current secured a pair of grants from the Saskatchewan Recreation and Parks Association to help aid in the mural's cost. They were approved for $5,000 from its Parks for All Grant and $2,000 from the SK Arts Microgrant program. 

The expected cost for the work is $11,700, with the remaining $4,700 being covered by the Art Gallery of Swift Current's operating budget.

One potential issue once the mural is completed was brought forward by Swift Current city councillor Ryan Plewis. He worried that its remote location and unmonitored area could allow it to become a target to be defaced. 

"There will be a normal topcoat applied to this," Shaw said. "The additional thing we're going to do with this mural specifically is apply an anti-graffiti coat. That is supposed to help protect it. It's something we're trialling, we're not 100 per cent certain of how well it works but it's something we want to try to protect. We're aware that there is a risk of damage from potential ice flows and different scenarios. We will continue to work and potentially update it and manage it and provide a little love if needed."