S. Railway mural pops up over weekend
By Gillian Slade on May 8, 2018.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade An eye-catching mural is attracting attention on South Railway Street at the entrance to the tunnel under the railway lines leading to North Railway. “I think it’s one of those eye catchers — beautiful colours, what a beautiful thing to capture,” said Sheri Gress, who works across the road at Being Human Services. Gress says the mural emerged over the weekend. The artist group is known as Musal, Fasm, Sonz1. They include Will Oskam, Jeff Goring and Aaron Fasm. The concept for the design started with Oskam’s desire to create a backdrop for a skyline, said Fasm, who likes to depict local wildlife. “So the community can gather around and get excited about where they live,” he explained of the bird featured. “The purple contrasts well with the meadowlark.” They used aerosol spray paints — something they’ve used for decades. Aerosol cans have evolved over time, specifically for graffiti art, to give much more control. Some have lower pressure, more colour choices, and a range of nozzles that can be changed to address a smaller or larger area depending on the effect to be achieved. It took the three artists about five hours to complete over the weekend. Peggy Gizen is the spokesperson for Street Art Works and the project called “Tunnel Vision,” which started some years ago but for a long time there had been a lack of artists that were interested. “We sure have got it now, haven’t we,” said Gizen. “I was so impressed.” The artists are given “creative control,” said Gizen. “We ask them to do things that would be appropriate for Medicine Hat and downtown and obviously they’ve done a great job on that.” Gizen says Hatters will soon see most of the artwork replaced in the tunnel. 15
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