A mural celebrating the many faces of volunteerism was unveiled this week on Cork Street in the downtown.
Artist Meredith Blackmore coordinated the making of the mural, a process that involved 10 workshops and about 150 volunteers - a volunteer for every year Canada has been a nation.
The project has a Canada 150 anniversary connection, having received grants from Guelph Community Foundation and the Government of Ontario as part of anniversary commemorative funding. The PIN (People and Information Network) mural began back in late April during National Volunteer Week.
A former bargain store in the Old Quebec Street Shoppes was repurposed as a mural painting studio, and teams of volunteers were enlisted. The finished piece is now affixed to a brick wall on the side of the PIN/Community Foundation office building on Cork.
It depicts from front to back a host of characters engaged in volunteer activities and those benefiting from the work of volunteers. It utilizes vibrant colour and a very positive message.
About 30 people gathered in the alleyway near the brick wall late Wednesday afternoon for the unveiling. Mayor Cam Guthrie was on hand.
Christine Oldfield, executive director of PIN (formerly the Volunteer Centre of Guelph-Wellington), said the renaming of the organization, together with the opportunity to celebrate volunteerism during Canada 150, called for a major public art project.
The Guelph Arts Council was consulted from the beginning, she said, and the grants from the foundation and province made the mural possible.
Chris Willard, executive director of the Guelph Community Foundation, said the mural is a collaborative representation of what it means to be a citizen of Guelph. The mural, he added, depicts the best attributes of the community, and those attributes represent what it means to be a Canadian.
Blackmore said the project “needed a whole bunch of risk takers.” The goal was to depict those in our community who ask for help, and the many volunteers who offer the help they need in so many ways and places.
Look for the mural at 46 Cork St. E.
