Painter says downtown underpass holds special meaning for Sudbury-based artists

Artists in Sudbury are hoping to garner the city's support for a new community-based mural at the Elgin Street downtown pedestrian underpass.

When the entrance to the tunnel linking nearby neighbourhoods to the downtown core was torn down to be rebuilt this past winter, a mural painted in the early 2000s by grassroots arts group Myths and Mirrors disappeared with it.

With the new underpass entrance now open, Monique Legault, a painter and downtown shop owner, says her goal is to help community artists claim that spot back.

She says the Up Here urban art festival has done great things to liven up and colour Sudbury with murals over the past four years, but that much of it is done by big-name national and international artists commissioned to do the work.

She explains the Elgin Street underpass holds a special place in the Sudbury arts community — its located on a strip known as "artist's row" due to its high number of independent boutiques and galleries — and that it should be reserved for local painters.

She's also adamant they should be paid for their work.

"I want it to be a local project, I want it to be something where as many artists that are interested can be involved and get paid to do it because as local artists, we're often asked to do things by volunteer," says Legault, who also sits on the Sudbury Arts Council.

The City of Greater Sudbury says it's "exploring options" to have the underpass decorated, but that nothing is currently planned.

Legault says she's already been in contact with city staff and council, and that she's now circulating petitions with the aim of applying for community funding programs to get the project considered.

Grassroots collective interested

Legault explains part of her mission is to have Myths and Mirrors' name once again attached to a potential new mural.

The non-profit collective has been active in the community for the past 22 years.

It doesn't currently have the plans nor the money to finance another mural, but Myths and Mirrors' vice-chair Max Merrifield says they'd jump at the opportunity to join such a project.

"That's what Myths and Mirrors does, is bring community together through artistic projects so [...] depending when it happens, what type of resources we have, I think that sounds like a really cool idea," says Merrifield.

Merrifield was part of the group of Sudbury artists who painted and maintained the original water-themed mural at the Elgin Street underpass.

He says a new underpass project could be a chance for the City to emphasize its responsibility to the artists that live and work here.

"The tunnel needed rehabilitation badly, we understand the mural had to be covered up. But I hope they take the commitment to art in that space seriously going forward and support whatever initiative aims to fill that tunnel with some colour," says Merrifield.

Legault estimates creating a mural of that size could total between $10,000 and $15,000, but that it could be completed over the span of multiple years.

Each of the city's 12 wards receives $36,750 annually to spend on Health Community Initiative programs.