Brentwood Community Association livens up grey wall with colourful mural

Residents living in the Calgary community of Brentwood are excitedly awaiting the completion of a new mural that will liven up an otherwise bland underpass.

The east concrete wall under Crowchild Trail is being transformed with a colourful abstract painting.

The wall has been a point of contention for community members ever since its creation during the expansion of Crowchild Trail.

"We've seen graffiti for many years," said Bonita McCurry, president of Brentwood Community Association.

"The city would come and they would paint it over, but you get all different kinds of (shades of) gray, and it just looked awful, so we got together and we said, 'We've got to do something and make this more vibrant.'"

Community member Lee Hunt has helped out on the project in a variety of ways.

"We put out a call for artists and we had four who applied," she said. "We were very grateful for all four of them and the work they did, because they all had to create a mural pattern."

"Then a panel of three members of the community selected Lacey and Layla Art."

McCurry says it was the colourful nature of the submission that caught her eye.

"My favourite part about this mural is that I get to paint the biggest cat face I have ever seen," said Leanne Kembel, one of the three artists involved. "I'm really excited about that to be a part of it."

In addition to a cat, the design also includes other animals and a mountainscape.

Hunt says many people from the community wanted to help paint.

"At this point we've had about 35 adults and last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we had youth painters here, and there were about 50 of those," she said.

Eva Gustavson worked with the young painters, and says it is a unique opportunity for them to work on a large-scale piece.

"I think it's really wonderful because we have lots of youth that are interested in art," she said.

"This is probably one of the first opportunities they have to work on such a large canvas, and hopefully it'll inspire them to get into muralism as well."

Julliane Ramos is one of the young painters.

"In my community, we usually don't have such colourful things," she said.

"We just have normal building and playgrounds, but seeing this, I've been seeing so many cars drive by and honk, and they're all being really positive about it and giving us compliments.

"It's just really fulfilling and rewarding for us to have the community be happy."

The project is hoped to be complete in mid-September.

The cost of the project is an estimated $65,000, much of which will be covered by grants.