Community artist Grant McLaughlin only needs to apply small touch-ups to a few murals this summer, leaving him more time to focus on other projects.
McLaughlin has already brightened the fading Ross Wells Tribute to Baseball at the Ross Wells Diamond on Caribou Street East, while he plans to address A Tribute to Lewis Rice at 70 Stadacona Street West, Fire Watch at 100 Fairford Street West and a Tribute to Gary Hyland at the corner of Home Street and Fourth Avenue Southeast.
McLaughlin and Derek Blais, director of parks and recreation, toured the downtown this spring and determined which murals needed work. The baseball mural was the only one carried over from last year, while the others are new projects.
McLaughlin expects to address those murals before the summer ends; they shouldn’t take too long since most require protective varnish or minor painting.
“It’s not going to be a very busy summer … . Most of the murals are in decent shape. There’s a couple that are fading,” he said. “I said (to the city), ‘Well, I’ve got some other things that are going to tie me up for part of the summer.’
“I know with this new (public art) committee, they’re trying to decide what to do about the mural (Stormin’ Main Street that) they’re losing on the Times-Herald (building),” he continued. “And they’ve got that Chinese mural that’s on panels so that it can be put up someplace. And the exhibition mural is starting to look a little ragged and is another (one) they’ll have to decide what to do (with).”
It’s tough to know every year which murals require repairs since many are painted directly onto walls, McLaughlin said.
Although he has no decision-making powers, he writes annual reports for city hall and recommends which artworks require maintenance because of how much they have faded.
He has fully re-painted several murals over the years — the Baseball mural on the Crushed Can in 2020, for example — while others he has “barely touched” and some simply needed a protective coating.
“Even Crescent Park hasn’t been vandalized this year, which is a bit of a surprise,” added McLaughlin. “So that’s always good.”
The artist has served as city hall’s “go-to guy” for refurbishing murals ever since Gus Froese and Dale Cline died years ago. However, besides Moose Jaw, McLaughlin also lends his talents and advice to smaller communities when they ask for support.
For example, he has repaired the Indian head statue in Indian Head, a dinosaur in Brooks, Alta., a sculpture in Kyle, Sask., and artwork in Yorkton. He has also advised Hudson Bay about creating a mural using small squares, mentored several young women in Yorkton in restoration and advised Leader about repairing a sculpture.
“I’m doing a little more long-distance (work) … ,” McLaughlin chuckled.
One mural McLaughlin won’t ever be able to refurbish is Froese’s 1993 artwork titled National Light and Power Co., which memorialized the changes that electric lighting brought to the city. It was located on the south wall of Boh’s Cycle and Sporting Goods on Main Street but has been replaced by a new mural.
“I was a bit surprised. It looked good when we toured it in the spring,” McLaughlin chuckled. “Last year … there were literally almost places you could see through the wall, so I had to fix that last year. It wasn’t what I consider in bad shape.”
He understood that the city and previous owner signed a 10-year agreement to maintain the mural, but if the owner sold the store, the new proprietors could keep the artwork or create something more modern.
“That’s up to them … . (But) that’s one reason why it’s better to do them on panels, although it costs more initially,” added McLaughlin. “It’s something that you know can happen.”
