When first examining Thunderbird Community Centre for the prospects of a mural the most favoured wall was the cream stucco wall shared by the school and TCC. After my initial meetings with community groups the rough plan was to create a mosaic of different cultural patterns to represent the diversity in the community in a non pictorial way. By weaving a story through different cultural patterns. However the shift to focusing on Thunderbirds began in the end of November with the Youth Council. Our brainstorming session resulted in drawings of thunderbirds and I began to research further in their mythology. Shortly after, in December, Cindy Gulbransen was at a program committee meeting where the location of the mural was drastically changed to the brick wall at the entrance to the TCC. The board made it clear that they wanted a legacy piece that was going to identify them as Thunderbird Community Centre. I attended the next program committee meeting in January where the location and objectives were discussed. The mural was to go on the brick wall and the mural needed to put thunderbird on the map, to help people in the community identify it. What I also got out of that meeting was how much community members enjoyed involvement in actually creating the lasting artwork. The hands on coming together to create something that will leave a beatiful mark. There was some interest from the board to put their logo in the mural but after a conversation with Nathan Pope I realized that we would need a sign permit to do so. With focus on identity of Thunderbird I kept on the same path with the Mythology of Thunderbirds which had come out of the youth council meeting. I went into all the classes at the elementary school to talk to them about our art project, to inspire the artists in them, tell them stories of thunderbirds and ask them to draw their own thunderbird.
So here we with two contradicting themes; We want to be put on the map with a large mural identifying us as Thunderbird Community Centre AND we want to be highlight the community’s diversity with no distinct identity. It hard to pass up the obvious powerful imagery provoked by the name Thunderbird, but that shouldn’t exclude the community’s diverse identity. I am afraid this isn’t a situation where you can kill two birds with one stone. Therefore I have designed a two fold project that will function to display our diverse identity while also highlighting the bold identity inherent in the name Thunderbird.
The Thunderbird is a powerful mythological creature across many cultures and it represents the strength and importance of transformation. A realistic bird transforms into the myth of the Thunderbird.
The colourful brick mosaic. This will be painted in partnership with community members. At a closer look each brick will have a different pattern to represent diversity and connection. We are all part of the pattern.
The dance of the Thunderbird also shows transformation and the strength it takes to strive for change.
This is a mock up of a mosaic created from cross cultural patterns. I would like to ask the community to bring forth patterns from their everyday life or from their cultures. This is a collage of patterns from Africa, Asia, Europe, Amereicas and international modern patterns.