Carly Jaye Art’s newest mural will soon be enchanting customers of Boh’s Cycle & Sporting Goods on Main Street with a building-scaled illustration incorporating outer space, the Northern Lights, Saskatchewan Prairie elements and, of course, cycling.
The mural will replace a Gus Froese artwork, titled National Light and Power Co., that memorializing the changes that electric lighting brought to the city. The mural was originally sponsored by the Moose Jaw Asphalt Company and was completed by Froese in 1993.
“The downside to this project is that we had to cover up a Gus Froese mural,” artist Carly Jaye Smith said. “We did have approval from the appropriate sources to do so, and it was over 30 years old, so. That’s the thing about street art, you have to appreciate it while it’s there, because there’s no guarantee of longevity.”
The old mural will undoubtedly be missed, but Boh’s owner Brittan Calibaba said it was past the point of being properly maintained for its heritage value.
“We had to do some mortar work on the wall last fall, so I called the (Moose Jaw Public Art Committee), and the city’s responsibility for the mural expired in 2007,” Calibaba explained. “So, they gave me the go-ahead to do what I needed to do in terms of infrastructure repair. They said that it wasn’t protected anymore, so after I knew it was expired, I figured it was ready for an upgrade.
“I called Carly, and we started working together on it, as we already have a couple of times before.”
Froese’s family was made aware of the process and took photos of the mural for archival purposes.
Calibaba and Smith worked together on the design. She expects that if the weather co-operates, she will be finished by mid-August.
“With this design, we tried to incorporate the themes of the other two murals, on the north wall and the façade,” Smith explained. “So, similar colour tones and palette, and it’s still cyclists, but there’s a daytime setting on the north, so we went with this night time, riding bicycles at night kind of thing on this side.”
Smith has been decorating the community for eight years now, including public art and private. Her mural work can seen be on the Palliser Regional Library headquarters in South Hill, on the Mad Greek Restaurant just up Main Street from Boh’s, and at the Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce, to list only a few.
