Festival organizers to bring ‘inspiration,’ ‘life’ with Edmonton’s largest mural

It started with the towering Okuda San Miguel mural, standing six storeys tall in Old Strathcona.

Annaliza Toledo and Trevor Peters of Rust Magic International Street Mural Festival are now trying to bring another big project to the city.

“We are crowdfunding for the largest mural in Edmonton, hopefully happening by the end of summer,” said Toledo.

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Spanish street artist duo PichiAvo have been invited to create the downtown mural, and they’re already a little familiar with Edmonton.

Toledo and Peters have been hard at work highlighting local and international artists for years.

“We started the festival to bring inspiration back to Edmonton. We were born and raised here and noticed there was a lack of inspiring colour over the city, especially with it being winter for six to eight months over the year,” said Toledo. “We’ve always been very diligent to include local and international talent. We do [half and half].

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We started the festival to bring inspiration back to Edmonton. We were born and raised here and noticed there was a lack of inspiring colour over the city, especially with it being winter for six to eight months over the year," said Toledo. "We've always been very diligent to include local and international talent. We do [half and half].

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San Miguel was the first through the festival’s third year.

The other was finished last week by Calgary artists Nasarimba, found on the east side of the Habesha African Market.

In total, Rust Magic is on track to complete 10 new murals by the end of summer.

“We always had a radar on blank walls and how we can really bring some vibrancy,” said Toledo. “Our whole mandate is to bring inspiration and life to the city. Gift the community with free public art that they can enjoy.”

$15,000 in leftover crowdfunding cash from the Okuda San Miguel project is going towards the new venture, located on 103 Avenue and 106 Street directly in front of MacEwan University. The total campaign goal is $25,000.

Toledo said Edmontonians might be experiencing a bit of art fever.

“The [Okuda San Miguel] mural just made such an impact. It was such a spectacle,” said Toledo. “Even for me, it just does something to you. People can recognize the feeling of [art] and what it can do to you, just by standing in front of it.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The [Okuda San Miguel] mural just made such an impact. It was such a spectacle," said Toledo. "Even for me, it just does something to you. People can recognize the feeling of [art] and what it can do to you, just by standing in front of it."

She believes people are excited to see more international and local art in the streets.

“We’ve done mentorship programs where we take on youth to help out these artists so they can learn from them and then hopefully create something themselves in the future. We always include local,” Toledo.

The concept of this project, the first for PichiAvo in Canada, is still under wraps.

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“We haven’t seen a final concept yet, but you can expect something pretty mind-blowing, I’m sure,” said Toledo. “It’s a beautiful wall, great vantage point. We’re so excited to see what they come up with.”

According to Toledo, work could begin as early as Wednesday and last 10 to 12 days.