Essex Town Centre will soon be the home of a new art installation.
Council has given approval for an 8ft by 48ft mural for the wall of Wood Craft Pizza on Talbot St N which will face the a recently rejuvenated parkette.
Manager of Culture and Recreation Cynthia Cakebread says the town's Business Improvement Association is covering the $10,000 cost of the project.
"They very much wanted to contribute to an art piece for the downtown area. You have two organizations like the Arts, Culture and Tourism Committee that has the knowledge, the know-how, the steps in place already and the BIA that's able to fund something and work together to have a great outcome like this."
Artist renderings of a proposed 8-ft by 48-ft mural to be painted on the side of Wood Craft Pizza at 47 Talbot St. N. in downtown Essex. (Photo via www.essex.ca/Art Attack Windsor)
Cakebread says the BIA was looking for something unique.
"What they really wanted was something interesting, colourful, dynamic, fun. Not your typical image that tells a story, but really something that feels good, looks good and I think the biggest thing was bright, colourful and not your typical."
She adds "there is another wall that's empty. There are a number of walls and as councillor Sherry Bondy brought up, there's walls in Harrow that they're looking at and people are catching on that murals can be dynamic and interesting. I think we're moving away from the traditional murals that we've done in the past and looking to do something different and eye-catching now."
Local artist Irene Sekersky will be painting the mural which is expected to be completed by the end of the fall.
Sekersky will paint it on a canvas which will then be scanned, enlarged and mounted onto several aluminum panels.
— with files from AM800's Gord Bacon