August 2, 2012 Volume 11 • Number 31 50¢ Newsstand Price
INSIDe
downtown
Disaster Assistance available – page 2
Live at Lunch
Enjoy live music on Victoria Street July & august
also
Change starts here – page 4
www.kcbia.com • 250.372.3242
your neighboUrhood. your newspaper.
Giving back: Creating a community gathering place It’s been two years in the works and artist cause of weather conditions. Lisa Clark, an Ur- munity…Now that it is vibrant, [the space] will Dawn Burn Aziz glows as she stands beside the ban Systems employee involved with the project get utilized by neighbours more.” mural she designed to wrap the ball court at Stu- from the start, recounts how when she and her Clark agrees, “As the space is beautified, more art Wood Elementary School. children were helping paint, one of them “pulled people will use it.” She sees this mural as the “I think it was the most challenging project I people off the street” to have them help. start of different initiatives that will bring more have ever done,” Aziz discloses, “The scale, diExpertise was no requirement, and Heather life to the community. mensions, and surface quality of the wall were MacKnee, a volunteer from Urban Systems, adDiane Hallam, another representative from the a unique ‘canvas’ that became a creative chal- mits openly, “I am not an artist!” but her will- Urban Systems foundation, reflects on the aclenge.” Aziz also had to imagine a space that ingness to try and learn was precisely what Aziz complishment: “It was empowering to work on would appeal to a broad demographic while re- sought to recruit. it,” she says. Revillard continues, “We don’t get specting the vision of the other stakeholders in the process. It was the Urban Systems Foundation who originally approached Sydney Griffith, the principal of Stuart Wood, with an idea to create a gathering place for the community. Griffith thought immediately of Aziz. The two had worked together in the past and Aziz’s background in visual arts, her master’s in painting, and her position as a teacher at Beattie School of the Arts made her a clear choice. Planning was an evolutionary Many partners came together to create the new mural at Stuart Wood Elementary School. Pictured here (l-r) is mural artist process, as Aziz describes: “The KCBIA - earlug June16.indd 1 Dawn Burn Aziz with Heather MacKnee, Lisa Clark, Diane Hallam and Ronny Revillard. whole project went on a journey, so it is fitting that the final design is about a curious barn owl who goes on a jourThose waiting for the bus across the street a lot of opportunities to participate in something ney following a ribbon that becomes our river, would come over to lend a hand, a group of nurs- like this that often, and I am glad that I could do our hills, our streets, and our community.” es from the hospital would walk down each day something to give back.” Griffith firmly believes that there is a spirit to see what progress had been made, and RonTogether with others from the Urban Systems to public art. Her ideal of creating a space that ny Revillard, another volunteer, recounts how Foundation, the Stuart Wood community, and will give a passersby a lift and a smile and invite people from the neighbourhood would come local businesses like General Paint who donatthem to use the space was achieved. and express appreciation for the colour being ed supplies, Clark is planning a grand opening During the cleaning, priming, and painting brought to their community. and plaque reveal for September once the school process, about 30 volunteers assisted Aziz in her In Revillard’s words, “I think the wall around year resumes. work, which spanned over only three weeks be- the court symbolized a mental wall for the comJennifer Sloan, freelance