Although the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre is less than a week away from opening, one piece of its planned aura will not be in place by Saturday’s grand opening — its new mural.
The mural is the work of the Westlock Community Art Club, and when completed will measure eight feet by eight feet in size, comprising 144 eight-inch square tiles, said club member Maureen Flinn.
Currently, art club members and other Westlock residents are painting the tiles, which are each a separate part of a larger, secret design, Flinn said.
With just over a month to go before the July 13 deadline to return the completed tiles, fewer than 30 remain unclaimed and unpainted.
Flinn said the way the whole process works is that each tile is already coloured and shaded as part of a larger image. The artists who choose to work on a tile have nearly complete control over what to paint on the background, provided it does not change the overall hue.
The idea is that the entire concept of the mural will be visible from a distance, but upon close examination the viewer will see 144 different images drawn by their friends and neighbours, Flinn said.
The entire mural, and especially its overall design, is a closely guarded secret. The club won’t say what it will look like, and with fewer than 50 tiles in the Art Gallery at the Heritage Building on June 8, it’s hard to guess at what it will look like when completed.
All Flinn would say on that topic is that the club plans to unveil the mural in August, hopefully during the Westlock & District Agricultural Fair. Until then, speculation shall run rampant.
Once the mural is finished, Flinn said the club would like to do another one in the same style.
“This is the first one we’ve done, and we plan on doing more,” she said. “It’s a learning curve, but it’s been fun.”
Anyone interested in working on a tile and getting their name and artwork installed as a permanent feature at the Spirit Centre is invited to stop in at the art gallery on Fridays between noon and 4 p.m. to pick up a tile. The tiles can be worked on at the gallery or they can be taken home.
The final deadline to return a finished tile is July 13.
