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Ukrainian Folk Artist Hoping to Showcase Talents in Two Hills
Ukrainian Folk Artist Hoping to Showcase Talents in Two Hills
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
Folk arts reflect the cultural life of a community. The art form encompasses the expressive culture associated with the fields of folklore and cultural heritage.
Ukrainian folk artist Nataliia StativaZharko is hoping to use her imaginative and creative expression to showcase her artistic talents in the community of Two Hills. To that end, she appeared before town council at its Sept. 12 meeting with a few samples of her work and desire to paint a mural on the town office or water tower.
It was an intriguing idea and one that met with interest by members of town council and administration. Mayor Leonard Ewanishan said painting the water tower would is a “perfect idea” as there is no doubt that it would remain in place. “It’s one of the last remaining landmarks in communities…My thing is, if we can find through the government a grant for at least a portion of it and then there would be no hesitation, because it’s going to stay.”
CAO Adam Kozakiewicz said, “The paint alone would be $40-60,000 depending on the type of paint we use. It’s supposed to be powder coated paint, but again, we don’t need to paint the entire water tower, just what’s in the elements, up high. So, hopefully the $40,000 will be closer to the right price. If we can buy paint of that sort I’m sure we can buy all sorts of coloured paint and make it an art project; and then get an artistic grant for at least half of it.”
Deputy Mayor Michael Tarkowski remembered reading through some documents and said there are some partial federal and provincial grants available right now that they could tie into for that project.
Kozakiewicz said they are continuously trying to find artists, and once funding is secured they could have several artists working on the project.
Tarkowski suggested they utilize the talents of artist Stativa-Zharko, and perhaps their neighbours to the north to make it multicultural in theme. But Councillor Sonny Rajoo said he wanted the water tower to showcase Ukrainian heritage. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time and want to celebrate Ukrainian heritage and have one theme.”
Deputy Mayor Michael Tarkowski made a motion to table the item until Economic Development Officer Bob Ross can gather information and come up with options for an art project for the water tower.
In a follow up discussion with Ross, he said they were looking into a mural project in the community as a whole, not just the water tower. We are just in the research stage at this point in time.
Ross said he thought the water tower was built in 1958 and the town stopping using it in 2012 when they joined the regional water system.
