Windsor 125 Public Art Project
The City of Windsor unveiled a special new public art installation on Canada Day, July 1, 2017, at the former transformer casing wall in the shared parking lot of the Chimczuk Museum, Art Windsor-Essex (AWE), and Adventure Bay Family Water Park Presented by WFCU Credit Union. The installation of two separate artworks received generous funding from the Canadian Department of Heritage, Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program. Windsor artists were invited to apply to create a public installation to celebrate Windsor's milestone 125th anniversary. The artists were asked to create a work that would celebrate our birthday in a way that would become a permanent part of the stories told to Windsor residents and visitors for generations to come. The selected works were Windsor Snapshots by artist Christy Litster, and Yesterday and Tomorrow by artists Alaa Elbarbary and Kristina Bradt.
Windsor Snapshots
By Artist Christy Litster
Windsor Snapshots, originally intended as a temporary installation with a five-year lifespan, is a durable and vibrant public art mural that is still on display in the city of Windsor. The mural highlights a few interesting people, places, items, and events that have helped to shape the history of the city of Windsor. The mural is made up of both aluminum and plexiglass panels. The aluminum panels feature various digitally illustrated subjects. The plexiglass panels are portraits of prominent Windsorites created using both digital illustration and hand-painted elements that are painted in the reverse on the panel. This method of back painting gives the portraits a unique depth, as the drop shadow from the illustration on the front moves throughout the day as the sun makes its way across the sky. Each image is marked with a letter that corresponds to the central timeline. On this timeline, the viewer can learn about the illustrated subject and can also scan a QR code that links to this web page for more in-depth information. In this way, the mural is fully interactive and educational. In addition to learning more about each subject, the viewer has the opportunity to download a black and white colouring page of each of the panels to print and colour at home – see list of downloads below. We encourage the viewer to not only learn about Windsor's history through this unique mural but to also become part of the art!
About the Artworks in the Mural:
- Download the Mary Ann Shadd colouring page.
- Download the Hiram Walker Distillery colouring page.
- Download the Oscar Fleming colouring page.
- Download the International Freedom Festival colouring page.
- Download the Carrousel of Nations colouring page.
- Download the George William Wiley colouring page.
- Download the Rosalie Trombley colouring page.
- Download the Right Honourable Herb Gray colouring page.
- Download the Charles Brooks Memorial Peace Fountain colouring page.
- Download the First Minivan colouring page.
- Download the 1946 Tornado colouring page.
- Download the Windsor Sculpture Park colouring page.
- Download the Great Canadian Flag Project colouring page.
- Windsor Snapshots Mural by Artist Christy Litster, Information on Individual Works (Research compiled by Christy Litster).
About the Artist:
Christy Litster is an award-winning artist and illustrator. She has created multiple murals throughout Essex County. To find out more about Christy and view some of her other work and projects, visit her website at www.ChristyLitster.com.
Yesterday and Tomorrow
By Artists Alaa Elbarbary and Kristina Bradt
In thinking about the atmosphere of city environments, the artists came to understand that the best ones embody a sense of evolution and change from the successes of the past. For Elbarbary and Bradt, Windsor is a place where the potential for collaboration and development gives the city its core appeal and its ability to flourish. In their design, they sought to incorporate that vision, depicting Windsor literally from the bottom up. By highlighting the impact that the past has on the famous "rose city," the artists immortalized Windsor’s past from its roots throughout the Prohibition era and the auto industry. The middle panel of their installation depicted the current skyline of Windsor (in 2017). Aligning it with the heart of the rose, they signified the people living within it – the moving, breathing core of the city. Having separate panels in the design worked to emulate segments of past, present, and future while still fitting together to create a complete image of Windsor. This compilation of imagery spoke to the collective nature throughout the history of the city that the artists sought to unfold. This temporary installation was on display from 2017 to approximately 2020.
About the Artists:
Alaa Elbarbary is a multimedia artist primarily focused on sculpture and painting. She explores a wide variety of themes that revolve around the human condition as a whole. As an Egyptian, raised in Saudi Arabia, and currently living in Windsor, Alaa has been exposed to multiculturalism from a young age that has inspired and is exhibited in much of her artwork.
Kristina Bradt is an artist originating from Windsor, Ontario, identifying as a sculptor and narrator in her artistic practice. Themes included in her work revolve around the study of people, their everyday surroundings, and the connections and interactions between the two.