With one mural finished and another on the way, downtown Barrie, Ont., is getting a lot brighter, and those involved hope it helps residents take more pride and interest in the city’s downtown core.
The Downtown Barrie Business Improvement Association (BIA) has partnered with local artists in two projects to bring some vibrancy to some blank canvases downtown.
“Art helps us connect with each other and relate to one another. It creates community. It also helps us connect to our surroundings and encourages people to take ownership of public spaces. So we want to inspire people to explore and interact with their surroundings,” said Sarah Jensen, communications and public realm coordinator for the downtown Barrie BIA.
“The projects you’ve undertaken this year invest back in the community and help us to do more beautiful and safer downtown.”
The first mural, which the BIA is officially unveiling later this month, is by artist Bareket Kezwer and is strawberries made out of hundreds of hearts on Maple Avenue.
Kezwer created the mural with mentee and local artist Monica Loney.
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“I knew it was the perfect project to start with downtown. The strawberries are known in a lot of cultures for their healing properties, and … the mural is a gift to the well-being of the downtown community,” Jensen said.
“The idea is helping people connect with downtown, and that’s creating shared landmarks and getting people to explore downtown. Having people walk around more, first of all, they will discover new shops and places to eat and the great things we have downtown.”
“Also, just having more eyes on the street helps make it safer. It gives the impression that it’s an area that people care about, and people take ownership in that case and want to take care of it as well,” she said.
The second mural will be created by the duo Clandestinos Art. It will be on the opposite side of Maple Avenue on Shak’s World Community Centre.
The husband and wife duo, made up of artists Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky, have had their murals featured on walls in Canadian communities, including Kitchener, Montreal, Manitoulin Island, Toronto and now Barrie.
“We always want to create artwork that we’re proud about, and that represents us, but also the community around us,” Shalak Attack told Global News.
The two hope to finish the mural by the end of November.
Jensen said these two murals are just the start, with several other projects in the works, like creating a new community piano for downtown.
“There’s so many great things downtown that we really want to bring attention to them, so we hope that these murals help do that and help people feel ownership and connection and want to contribute to downtown as well,” Jensen said.
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