The City of Oshawa and TeachingCity partner Durham College (DC) are excited to announce a new public art mural installed on the retaining wall in front of City Hall on Centre Street as part of the community mural project, which installs artwork at City Hall every other year.
The theme of the vinyl mural is human rights, which augments the City's first-ever Diversity and Inclusion Plan. Sixteen Fine Art students in DC's School of Media, Art and Design's Community Collaborations course - Leana Anderson, Christopher Cote, Kimberly Cuomo, Shania Dias, Devan Johnson, Amy Johnston, Tanice Laframboise, Tara Larkin, Nicole Marhong, Quinn Mcinall, Toni Mcmullen, Sonja Muskiluke, Andra Rusu, Kyle Samuel, Courtney Skovira and Viktoria Williams - designed the artwork.
In addition to creating the final product, students also received first-hand experience working with City staff on creative placemaking, public art projects and incorporating community consultation.
"The community mural project is another amazing TeachingCity initiative that sees post-secondary students engage with the Oshawa community and learn from and work with City staff," says Oshawa Mayor John Henry.
"This project is a perfect example of experiential learning at its best," said Don Lovisa, president, Durham College. "Our students are able to use their extensive talents and the skills they are learning in class in a real-world setting, which is what TeachingCity epitomizes - learning, development and research for the betterment of the broader community."
The collaborative focus of the human rights mural project prioritized public input. Community feedback (received via a survey) inspired the students' concepts, which were then reviewed and selected by the City's Public Art Task Force. The students' individual concepts came together in the final mural to artistically express concepts, views, experiences and hopes for human rights.
The design and installation of the mural follows the City's Public Art Master Plan and Public Art Policy, and connects to the Culture Counts: Oshawa's Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan key strategy of "creating vibrant places and spaces." As part of the Civic Square revitalization, the mural is a focal point of the space's landscape. For more information, visit www.oshawa.ca/publicart.
About TeachingCity
TeachingCity brings together the City of Oshawa and its education and research partners - Canadian Urban Institute, Durham College, Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. The partners address Oshawa's urban issues through innovation, collaboration, applied research and shared experiential learning opportunities with the aim to position Oshawa as a local, national and global community of urban research and learning. Learn more at www.oshawa.ca/TeachingCity and follow #OshTeachingCity on Twitter and Instagram.
