Affordable Homes — Calgary, AB
The Attainable Homes mural project in Calgary was a collaborative effort with my friend Dawn Saunders Dahl.
This project provided an interesting creative outlet and the always value-added bonus of some extra income while we collaborated on larger regional projects. Dawn and I met at art school in Calgary (ACAD), so returning to the city in a new unit of time was most certainly a nostalgic experience.
With a very tight production window, constrained largely by the daily costs of man-lift machinery, I needed to establish a compositional device that could elegantly wrap two sides of a relatively large building in a very short period of time.
More importantly, this image needed to speak to how we paint a picture of then step into our ‘realities,’ especially when we are young and actively coming to creative terms with a world full of brightly coloured possibilities, like a child’s chalk drawings of their dream home on the sidewalk in front of their house.
THE WONDER OF A CHILD
Children approach art with an unparalleled sense of wonder, creativity, and freedom, not bound by rules or conventions. Unlike grownups, they are not concerned with the final product, but instead delight in the process of creation itself, which is where the good stuff is.
This mural was conceived as a window into that world. It invites the viewer to wonder about the dreams and aspirations we hold collectively for our future. We here see through the eyes of a girl drawing a house on the sidewalk.
CHALK DRAWING — HOUSING STABILITY
The mural, titled “Chalk Drawing,” became a part of the Downtown West Mural Project. This was a collaboration between Attainable Homes Calgary (AHC) and the Downtown West Community Association. The mural features Mukta, the daughter of one of the AHC homeowners, drawing with chalk. The project aimed to bridge the affordability gap for moderate-income Calgarians, providing them with access to homeownership and housing stability.
The success of public art initiatives in Calgary, demonstrates the incredible impact art can have in building community. Projects like this profoundly spark meaningful public dialog about shared creativity.
Through projects like these, cities can create vibrant, culturally rich environments that celebrate their past, present, and future.
ATTAINABLE HOMES CALGARY
Created by the City of Calgary in 2009, Attainable Homes Calgary provides housing stability, security and flexibility. It does so with the belief that moderate-income Calgarians deserve access to these things.
Operating independently, they have bridged the affordability gap for nearly 1,000 Calgary families who could not otherwise enter the market.
“The murals in Downtown West have not only brightened our neighbourhood, but sparked some great conversations. The murals are community builders for us. I’m biased, but I think they often improve the buildings and create unique ways for people to identify locations when finding their way around.”
— Farnaz Sadeghpour, Downtown West Community Association president.
