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120 Isabel Street
Location Map
"Reading in the Park".
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Location: W side bet. Bannatyne & William; East Face
Occupant: Citypress
District: West End
Neighbourhood: West Alexander
Artist(s): Dennis Bell, Diane Bell
Year: 2003
Sponsors: Take Pride Winnipeg!
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Dennis Bell: "The concept of this Mural on Isabel was people reading in a park setting.
While I was working at my previous site in Lockwood Park, I took a lot of photos of the
park. There's a huge lilac tree and an ancient weeping willow tree there that I loved.
There was just a good feeling about this park; so I decided to use some of those photos to
build this scene on this wall. So I started photographing kids in park situations, with the
parent's consent. I built the scene with about seven or eight figures in it to demonstrate
the fact that people read in parks. The setting is early morning: I wanted to create these
long shadows streaming across the park and the sun is just tipping over the trees."
"During this project, there was rain, and the heat was so extreme that the paint gummed
and just rolled off the brush. We'd (Dennis and wife Diane) have to stop. So we tried to
work in the evenings when it was a little cooler. It was between 30 and 35 Celcius every
day. When I approached the wall for the first time it had been primed out in a white at
my request. With the advantage of hindsight, that wasn't such a wise choice because of
the reflective quality on that steel wall, and you could literally see heat waves as you
were painting. The wall was a corrugated metal siding- very industrial looking. It's near
impossible to draw straight-line across the corrugation. As far as being a smooth surface
it was pleasant when you're on the high ridges; to come down with the brush and go into
those little valleys of the corrugation it was really tough. But I think it turned out really
well, and from across the street looks really good! I really like the look of it."
The two figures on the left in the foreground by the wading pool (photo 3) are likenesses
of Dennis and Diane's nephews, painted from photo references. The boy on the left was
actually in a bathtub looking out when the photo was taken; the boy on the right was
playing in the sand on the beach. The boy standing in the wading pool behind them is a
likeness of the son of a good friend of Diane's from the United States.
Diane Bell: "There was this wonderful girl who walked by one day, her name was
Shelley. She told us that it was a beautiful painting and gave us each a little gift! She
later asked us if we could put up a 'little flower' for her in the painting, and that's why the
daisy is there in the bottom left-hand corner! She was just so gracious, and said 'this is
the most beautiful thing we've had in this area!' Several of the other community
residents would walk by, checking on us and watching our progress over the three-week
period and compliment us. There was so much enthusiasm! It was a wonderful
experience and the community was very receptive."
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