A small, Calgary-based art and design studio is showing off its latest work at the new Co-op gas bar in Killarney-Glengarry and the mural captures the essence of the southwest community.

Artists Chris Pecora and Cam Hoff of Slugger Studio were chosen by Co-op to create a mural for its station on 17th Avenue S.W. after the company put out a tender for proposals.

“Totally a team effort with our marketing department. We went out for tender and then wanted to see who could bring this type of mural to the community,” said Woody Stelnicki, Managing Director for Petroleum for Calgary Co-op. “We’re certainly happy to be in the Killarney community with this facility and this mural as being part of it.”

The mural illustrates the community’s musical roots and the artists say painting a band was the best way to reflect that.

“In our research process we found that music was sort of a theme that ran throughout the community. There’s a recording studio, a record shop, a music school and some other notable musicians that live in the area and so we thought that that was sort of like an interesting thread to follow and thought that a band was a good metaphor for a community like these other voices that come together as one,” said Pecora.

“The theme of the mural is community and using a band as a metaphor for that and just like how a band works together to play one, unified piece of music together, a beautiful song. So it’s kind of a metaphor for Killarney and the community and we included the tree canopy and stuff so it’s representative of the Killarney community and the harmonious nature of the people in the community,” said Hoff.

The pair designed the mural digitally and sent the file back and forth to make changes. They then projected the piece onto the wall and enlisted help from others to put paint to plaster.

“Once we got here to the site it took about 100 hours. We had a crew help us and Cam and myself as well being on site,” said Pecora.

“In terms of the actual painting, we had between four and five people on the wall at a time, some on ladders, some down low, just kind of painting by numbers, filling in the colours,” said Hoff.

The team used latex paint and chose a vibrant and punchy colour palette.

“We really wanted something that was exciting and positive and energetic and this was the direction that we went,” Pecor said.

Co-op says it worked with the community on the concept and that feedback from residents has been mostly positive.

“We’ve had some feedback, it’s been a lot of positive feedback but with any piece of art, there’s always going to be differing views on what it looks like and then how it’s perceived but by and large the people that have come by have been quite complimentary of it and it certainly is eye catching,” said Stelnicki. “We’re new to the Killarney community and bringing this mural here along with our project, I’m hoping, is going to bring the community to us.”

“It was actually a really fun project. I think it went really well, the process went smooth and it came together pretty quickly,” said Hoff.

The artists also have a mural in Bankview and say they would like to do more in the Calgary area.

For more information on Slugger Studio, click HERE or visit the company’s Instagram account to see more of their work.