The final tile of the Canada 150 Mosaic Mural has yet to be laid, but the fate of this cross-country art project has already been written—into a book, that is.
Started in 2015, the Canada 150 Mosaic Mural art project was started to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday by completing 150 community murals that illustrate the country’s cultural and geographical diversity. And as the project has travelled across the countryside, it joined tens of thousand of Canadians, as more than 80,000 people contributed—including hundreds from Chilliwack.
And now that mural is being published into a book for all to enjoy.
“We put the idea out to the public through a Kickstarter funding program,” said Phil Alain, one of the project’s creators. “We got an overwhelming response and were successfully funded through the people who helped make the murals.”
RELATED: Canada 150 Mosaic project to unite Chilliwack with communities across the country through art
The fundraising campaign brought in more than $35,000, donated by almost 350 people.
For Chilliwack’s contribution, more than 600 community members painted a stunning Canada 150 mosaic stylized train car to represent the community of Chilliwack. The local mural actually connects to murals all across Canada from coast to coast including all provinces and the Northwest Territories to form a massive train painted by over 80,000 people.
If connected, the finished mural would be over four football fields wide, and eight feet tall.
The project wraps up in September, and after that, the final draft of the book will be sent for printing.
“We hope the book will be out by Christmas, and it will retail for $75,” said Alain. The book, which will have more than 200 pages, will be full of engaging colourful spreads devoted to each community.
“It’s going to be a large coffee table book with huge pages representing each community, a write-up about the community, and where the mural is located as there are already people touring Canada to find all the murals,” Alain added.
“Important community members participated,” continued Alain. “We’re all connected through this project, and the people who participated can treasure this book for a lifetime.
“Years from now, grandkids who painted tiles with their grandparents will be all grown up and able to show their grandkids a book of what they did 50 years ago!”
For more information, or to order your copy of Mural Mosaic’s Canada 150 Heritage Train, visit Canada150Mosaic.com.
@SarahGawdin
Sarah.Gawdin@theprogress.com
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