Indigenous artist commissioned to paint murals all over the city

The massive pieces of art are colourful and a way for artist Kalum Teke Dan to share his culture with Calgarians. Dan has been painting murals for six years and says this is his busiest year with 16 commissioned pieces.

"It's too busy!" he jokes. "But as I tell my team, we're tired but we keep taking on more projects, the phone keeps ringing, the emails keep coming in, so I'm gonna keep taking them."

Dan has enough work to keep two teams busy painting murals. He says once a client reaches out he sketches out some ideas for them.

"I get a digital photo done and then we make a digital grid out of it which then I take to a company and they blow it up into this huge scale," said Dan. "And then we go from there."

One of the biggest he's done can be found on the southwest corner of where Blackfoot and Glenmore trails intersect. It's more than 73 metres wide and flows from one end to the other.

"I focus on a lot of the dancers that are at our Powwows and the colours and just the spirit and the imagery and develop the scale models you see here," he said. "People get to drive by, they get to see the true culture of the land that they're on - Treaty 7, so I'm honoured and my team just is elated to know that they're part of a big project like this."

CONNECTING TO METIS HERITAGE

Lux Mcleod is Dan's second in command and says working with him is helping her connect to her Metis heritage.

"My mom tried to connect with other different tribes and get an idea of the culture," she said. "But having this (opportunity with Kalum) and learning about the story behind the jingle dress and the chicken dancers, I'm learning so much just through the history of what we're painting, so it's beautiful."

It took six weeks to complete the mural and the artists used more than 227 litres of paint. Their canvas was made up of two brick walls that posed its own challenges.

"Especially when we're doing detail on the very bottom, you're crouched down laying on the ground in some weird positions," said Mcleod. "But every mural has different challenges."

THE RIGHT BRUSH

Ava McNeil worked on all aspects of the mural and says it was difficult to find the right brush for the job.

"It's more efficient and faster to use a bigger brush to try and get into the smaller sections or substituting tiny ones and then just kind of slowly filling it in so it's faster," she said. "I personally do use a smaller brush when I probably shouldn't."

Dan says more companies are recognizing Truth and Reconciliation and reaching out for a mural.

"Our voices are strong and we're not going to sit back in the corner anymore, we're here to shine so this is why we're doing this but we want people to be proud of the land that they're on and the culture," said Dan. 

"With all the missing and murdered, the Every Child Matters events there's been a lot going on to our culture that was terrible in the past," Dan added. "Right now we're rebuilding, we're back better than ever."

See more of Dan's artwork here: https://kalumtekedan.godaddysites.com/