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547 Notre Dame Avenue
Location Map
"Sky Dancers".
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Location: NE corner Notre Dame & Kate; East Face
Occupant: Eyaa-Keen Centre Inc..
District: West End
Neighbourhood: West Alexander
Artist(s): Charlie Johnston (C5 Artworks)
Year: 2002
Sponsors: Take Pride Winnipeg!, West End BIZ, Neighbourhoods Alive! (Manitoba), Dreamweaver Productions Ltd.
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This wall is at the site of the building that used to house the offices of The Winnipeg
Cyclones basketball team. The primary Mural clients were Earl Barish (the owner) and
West End BIZ; and the theme is a continuation of the West End's popular Mural theme: a
celebration of Multiculturalism.
Charlie Johnston: "This wall was chosen because it was such a strategic visible one for
drive-by traffic. I was actually originally approached about this wall in 1999. Back then,
I did a sketch of a playground scene."
"I felt pretty much assured of doing that wall it was just a question of the theme. I've
always loved hoop dancing and I've always thought that the Aboriginal hoop dancers
were spectacular, awesome performers of a visually exciting dance. So that was really
the start of it, the hoop dancer dancing in the centre of it- that was the key. In a way the
other dancers represent the four directions and the four colours of humanity."
"The Winnipeg Chai ensemble is at the left. They're a Jewish Folk dance troupe and
they have a space in one of the buildings there at the site. I wanted them to be a real focal
point of the wall; they're the closest to the road. These two figures were their most
dramatic, and the most colourful costumes they had. They may look like flamenco
dancers but they're really the Chai ensemble. The hoop dancer is the real pivotal center
of the design. Then we have the Caribbean folk dancers and that's off video footage I
shot of those very dancers at West End BIZ's launch of their website, and I used the
video as my reference."
"I have to say that this Mural is one of my favourites because I did the whole thing
freehand. Over here we've got the Chinese Lion dancers. It was exactly the time my
Father died that I was painting these figures. The face of that roaring lion has a special
meaning to me personally: I was going through all these feelings when I was doing this
section of the mural. I think some of those feelings got expressed on the wall."
"These wavy lines are sound in wavelength form. I call them sky dancers. I was trying
to focus on different aspects of dance. First of all sound waves, waves, and rhythms-
there is a rhythm in the spacing of the windows like a beat. I was listening to, imagining
a song in my mind of the different sounds of these different dance forms and listening to
them blend into each other from the rhythm. But once again I'd have to say the hoop
dancer was the key. Because the idea of the hoop dance is it's a shaman-like process
whereby the dancer is summoning, evoking the unseen world for information. This
Mural is really about invocation. These wave lines are like different rhythms of music.
But they're also like the lines of the world and the dancers are riding on the lines of the
world through their dance rituals."
Johnston illustrates a single male Chai dancer who completes a dance sequence in a stop
motion-like or strobe-like scene. "This is an actual dance move. He flies up here and
then bounces over here into where the hoops are! And look at the colours of the
Caribbean dancers. One of my favourite parts of this wall is the way this fourth dancer
partially disappears into the horizon by the colour arrangement of her dress- it passes
right through her. I like the kung fu moves the Lion Dancers do as they jump like they're
going to jump right off the wall. Lots of energy, lots of fun! The beautiful sky was all
done with rollers I was actually dancing while I was painting it too, and I had my music
blaring and I was doing my roller-blending thing."
This site was the locale for the Charlie Johnston interview that NEVER ACTUALLY
happened! A film crew was in town doing a piece on Community Pride, enhancement,
beautification, and graffiti cleanup. Three different groups all contacted Charlie
independently requesting that he be present at the site to be interviewed for their
respective portions of the piece: West End BIZ, Take Pride Winnipeg, and also Graffiti
Gallery (Charlie has had strong ties to GAP in the recent past with the Mural Art program
there). Graffiti Gallery were first up. Charlie: "They interviewed one guy and then the
Cameraperson got sick-they had to leave! Then they come to the site with Trudy (West
End BIZ executive director Turner), took a few pictures while I'm working there, and I
believe Trudy said a few words, and then they leave! They were out of time or
something. Then they show up with Tom Ethans (Take Pride Winnipeg), interview him
for about 20 minutes and then they're finally about to interview me and then somebody
notices (muralist) Richard Manoakeesick standing across the street he was waiting for a
bus. So they interview HIM! I ended up never even being interviewed at all!"
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