Over the past few years, Calgary’s public art program has often been criticized for commissioning artworks that are inappropriate for their location or lack the “appropriateness” one would expect from public art.

Could there be a new controversy on the horizon? The City of Calgary has approved funding for four “Black Lives Matter” murals and the first one will be replacing Doug Driediger’s popular “Giving Wings to the Dream” mural on the side of the old CUPS building on 7th Avenue SW.

FYI: As a result of “unprecedented support” for the mural, Pink Flamingo and the City of Calgary have decided to find another wall for their mural. Unfortunately, the support for the existing mural also resulted in significant racist remarksand threats to members of the Pink Flamingo group which saddens me deeply. I truly hope we can work together to find an appropriate site for a mural that addresses racism in a constructive manner.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep the “Giving Wings to the Dream” mural, accepting Driediger’s offer to update it for FREE and select another prominent site for the new “Black Lives Matters” mural.?

I have since reconsider this idea and feel that “Giving Wings To The Dream” mural should not be updated but remain as is. It speaks to a different, but just as important issue and CUPS has and still does great work helping those in need.

To end systemic racism we need to work together to “give wings” to the diversity of dreams of Calgarians of all backgrounds.

Full Disclosure: I am a white male and I have known Driediger since the mid ‘80s when I was the curator at the Muttart Public Art Gallery in Calgary working with 1,000s of artists from all backgrounds. I have been involved in Calgary’s public art scene in various capacities for the past 35 years. Also I have no issue with the BLM mural program, I would be opposed to anyone wanting to replace an existing mural that is in good shape and still relevant.

Editor’s Note: After this blog was posted, Allison Dunne provided this written statement to explain why the “Black Lives Matter” Mural organizer decided the CUPS wall was the best one for their first mural. This text has not been edited.

Why are you painting over the CUPS mural?

There a few reasons:

The site is one of the largest and most visible walls in the city. We feel BIPOC artists, and in this case QTBIPOC artists, deserve such a site. We aren’t interested in scraps and that means taking up space that’s been denied to BIPOC Calgarians in the past.
The existing mural by Doug Driediger has been up for 25 years — much longer than the lifespan of most murals in this city. It shares a message of hope that we think can evolve to reflect our current context, especially with the approach of “nothing about us without us.” We are having ongoing conversations with Driediger about our project.
We approached many walls. None of the walls had this level of visibility. Not only that, but the other walls we wanted were actually not available. You don't get to just pick any wall you want and start painting. There is due process. We were denied many walls.
There are also interesting property contexts to consider which make this site significant for a QTBIPOC mural. The current tenant is a Crossfit and it is adjacent to a parking lot owned by CPS. We feel a reminder that Black Lives Matter placed here will spur on contemplation and conversation.

I also received a letter from Lorraine Melchior who was the CUPS Executive Director in 1995 and commissioned the mural.

This mural is one that is intended to celebrate all people. The arms, with the various shades of colouring, represent many people of colour. Recently, a dear friend of mine, Margaret Waterchief died. I hired her to be the spiritual director at CUPS as many of the people who came for assistance were of Indigenous heritage. I learned a great deal from our Indigenous bothers and sisters and those learnings are reflected in the mural.
I was also born in Windsor, Ontario and lived there during my childhood. I travelled to Detroit Michigan often as close family friends lived there and I worked there during University. I also felt the pain of the Black People during the Detroit race riots. It impacted me deeply and as a result I continue to fight racism today.
All people matter to me. The arms in your mural mean a great deal to me as they represent diversity. The Spirit that I feel in your mural embraces a broad perspective and the dove is intended to represent peace. Those ideals remain relevant.
There is no question the CUPS logo should be removed. Perhaps the colouring of the arms can be darkened? It would trouble me if only Black Lives were highlighted in this mural as my personal experience in Canada and at CUPS includes Indigenous lives and that is particularly relevant in Alberta. I recognize that saying “All Lives Matter” does not address the historical injustice felt by many communities, however, I feel it important that our Indigenous people are not forgotten. If we could address the need to update the mural by including more colours, that would be great.

Over the past 25 years Driediger’s mural east wall of the former CUPS building has become one of Calgary’s signature public artworks.

Backstory:

Recently, Calgary’s Pink Flamingo Murals put out a call for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) to submit proposals for the “Black Lives Matters Murals” project.

The Media Release reads verbatim as follows:

Calgary’s Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) artists are invited to submit a proposal to the first of four calls for submissions for murals inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. The first mural site has been selected at 1 St. and 7 Ave. S.E., the current home of the iconic CUPS mural by Doug Driediger.

This call is for one of Calgary’s most historic and visible walls, measuring 25 feet in height by 125 feet in width. It is seen by an estimated 30,000-50,000 Calgarians per day due to its location opposite the Centre Street LRT station in downtown Calgary. The call for this mural is open July 22 to August 17 for works to be completed in September which will conclude Phase I of this project.

This is the first in four murals to be created as part of an open call by Pink Flamingo, artist Katie Green and filmmaker Suitaakii Black with support from Calgary Arts Development and Beltline Urban Murals Project (BUMP). It was approved by a City of Calgary vote on June 16 with the allocation of $120,000 from the City’s $4.7 million Public Art Reserve Fund — currently frozen as Council and administration reviews public art processes.

Council’s approval for this project shows that underrepresented voices, grassroots operations and novel curation methods are viable and valuable. Pink Flamingo and its partners are proud to challenge the status quo with a year-long art call that does not adhere to colonial or white supremacist ways of working.

The project is seeking community support in sharing the call for proposals at this time. Please alert your members, readers, listeners, viewers, clients, students and other stakeholders to the call, which can be found here:

Link: Black Lives Matter Murals website

Artist submissions may be addressed to pinkflamingomurals@gmail.com

Controversy Looming?

It will be interesting to see what artists and what their artwork will look like based on the statement “Pink Flamingo and its partners are proud to challenge the status quo with a year-long art call that does not adhere to colonial or white supremacist ways of working.” It could be very confrontational. Who will jury the proposals? Will there even be a jury? How will the murals represent all the diversity of Calgary’s population given people from over 240 different ethnic origins call Calgary home.

Also, given the project is being funded by taxpayer money, there could be some controversy around the fact that only QTBIPOC artists are eligible. In the past, all City of Calgary funded public art projects have been open to everyone in Calgary and often beyond. Why is this project different?

Others are bound to object to the fact that City Council has authorized $120,000 from the frozen Public Art Fund Reserve for this project. (The Fund has been frozen while Council decides on a better way to manage the public art program). Many will question why City Council is approving public art projects when they have always tried to let the local community and art professionals be responsible for choosing the artwork.

And then there is the elephant in the room - Why replace “Giving Wings To The Dream” mural that is loved by many and still in good shape. Surely another site can be found? There are lots of blank walls in Calgary’s City Centre and along LRT tracks.

As stated in the media release: The first “Black Lives Matter” mural is to be installed on 7th Avenue SW on the old CUPS building on 7th Ave SW in downtown where there Calgarian Doug Driediger’s, “Giving Wings To The Dream” mural currently exists.

Controversy In the Making!

I was shocked when I learned the first Black Lives Matters mural was going to replace the iconic CUPS mural by Doug Driediger, “Giving Wings to the Dream,” that has been there since 1995 and was Calgary’s first major art mural.

It depicts two large human hands reaching up (a hand-up, not a hand-out) to a white dove flying off into the sky. It was the perfect metaphor for a CUPS, a non-profit society that reaches out to Calgarians of ALL ages and backgrounds.

Driediger is probably Calgary’s first and most renowned muralist, having created several major murals in Calgary and in several other communities.

In 2017, I posted the blog, “Doug Driediger: Public Art That is Uplifting!” I wrote, “I like that all of Driediger’s large scale murals are uplifting, perhaps that is why the public loves them as much today as when they were done 20 years ago. The test for any work of art is how it stands the “test of time.” Driediger’s work passes with flying colours.”

We should be celebrating its 25 year anniversary, not removing it.

At first I was very disappointed that we were going to lose what has become an iconic artwork in downtown. Why was a perfectly good mural being replaced when there are lots of blank wall in Calgary downtown and City Centre? Why replace it with something that we don’t know will be better and worse.

What is Council thinking?

Driediger’s mural “The Promise” on the wall facing the Alex Ferguson schoolyard is another example of the artist’s skill at creating art that has a social message in a constructive manner. Note the hands are of various shades of colour.

Is Driediger’s Mural Still Relevant

I decided to give Driediger call and ask what he thought of his mural being replaced. Though he was very diplomatic, you could tell he was very disappointed. He told me he offered to update the mural by removing the CUPS reference (CUPS has moved to another building) and to rework the hands to represent Calgary’s diversity. And do it for FREE!

Why not let Driediger update his mural? The imagery and title “Giving Wings To The Dream” could easily be interpreted as “giving wings to the dream of reconciliation, ending homelessness, poverty or racism.”

Why this site?

But to be fair and open-minded, I contacted Pink Flamingo Murals (PFM) to see if they could help me understand why they had chosen the CUPS wall for their mural. Allision Dunne PFM President, (my apologies I originally said I spoke to Allison Tatjana, PFM spokesperson, as that was the name on my phone) told me in a telephone conversation they looked at 20 other sites for their first mural, but the CUPS site provided the highest profile and they needed this site to address the issue of systemic racism in Calgary.

While she respected Driediger’s mural and its uplifting message of hope, help and fulfilling dreams, she felt “not everyone in Calgary has benefitted from the hope depicted in the mural, that black Calgarians need to be part of the conversation, pointing out no mural in Calgary has been done by a black person.” When asked if there were any concerns about removing a well-liked mural of another artist, she said we have heard from many people who want the existing mural to stay, but we have no guilt or concerns; we need this site to address Calgary’s dark history of racism.

FYI: Knowing how difficult it would be to accurately reflect our phone conversation in a blog, I offered to include a written statement by PFM explaining the rationale for the replacing the existing mural. However after 10 days I haven’t received anything.

FYI: I petition to save the “Giving Wings To The Dream” mural has been started. if you want to sign the petition here is the Link: Save GWTTD Mural