A new mural in Edmonton’s Parkallen neighbourhood is intended to deter vandals from leaving graffiti tags along the outer boards of the community’s outdoor ice rink.
The 44-metre long mural at Ellingson Park was unveiled on Saturday.
Jan Hardstaff, co-chair of the Parkallen community league, helped organize people to help create the outdoor art installation.
“It turned something we were really struggling to prevent in the community into a positive opportunity. Now we have a colourful piece of community-generated art,” Hardstaff said.
Community meetings were held to gather designs, ideas and suggestions from residents. The end result is 18 panels designed for the community ice rink, depicting what volunteers found to be defining features of the neighbourhood.
“The mural itself depicts people’s homes, things they like to do in the community. There’s a few little things unique to Parkallen. We have a few little libraries, so some of those are on there. People’s pets, winter events we have, things like that,” Hardstaff said.
It took mural artists Theodora Harasymiw and Kaylyn Hardstaff just over two weeks to complete the outdoor art display.