Giving the gift of art to seven Manitoban communities

We’ve teamed up with Manitoba 150 and local artists to create art across Manitoba

CWB National Leasing is a Manitoba company that supports Canadian businesses and collects local art as a hobby, so we’re honoured to sponsor Mural 150 in partnership with Wall-to-Wall Mural & Culture Festival’s Rural Mural Tour, a part of Manitoba 150.

With Synonym Art Consultation organizing the effort, we’ll be connecting seven rural communities with public-facing artwork that represents their unique history, people and culture (scroll down to see which communities have been chosen)

Giving back to our communities is key

“Equipping your business for growth” ties to one of our core values. The industries we support (construction, transportation and agriculture to name a few) are pretty important to the backbone of a number of these rural communities.

We believe it’s important to give back and provide these towns with an opportunity to showcase their unique community through public-facing art. We’re thrilled to be a presenting sponsor for Mural 150, and we look forward to the unveiling these murals this summer.

Art collection that grows over time

Our fascination with art collecting started in the ‘90s; today, we have a total of 219 paintings/prints and 59 carvings displayed around our head office in Winnipeg. It all began with our past president, Nick Logan and former chairman, R.M. Chipman who began collecting a couple of art pieces each year, adding to the collection and increasing its value and significance over time.

Our vast collection contains watercolor paintings, limited edition prints, Indigenous wood and soapstone carvings, a large mural representing each province’s landscape and another large mural painted on wooden pieces from Graffiti Art Gallery.

 

Press release – Repurposed from Manitoba 150

WINNIPEG, May 4, 2021 -  Seven Manitoba communities will receive outdoor murals in celebration of Manitoba’s history, culture, people and beauty through Mural 150, presented by CWB National Leasing and in partnership with Wall-to-Wall Mural & Culture Festival’s Rural Mural Tour.

Synonym Art Consultation, one of the organizers of Wall-to-Wall, will connect each of the seven communities with contemporary Manitoba-based artists who will work with that community to share their unique story. The seven communities that will receive a contemporary mural and their selected artist are:

• Falcon Lake – artist: Kyla Quiring
• Flin Flon – artist to be determined
• Gimli – artist: Anthony Nelson
• Norway House First Nation – artist: Kris Snowbird
• Pilot Mound – artist: Storm Angeconeb
• Roseau River First Nation – artist: Niamh Dooley
• The Pas – artist: Ashley Tower

While Mural 150, presented by CWB National Leasing was originally intended to bring subsidized art to five communities, COVID forced a reimagining of the program. With the support of program sponsor CWB National Leasing, Mural 150 removed the need for communities to contribute funding and also expanded to seven communities by providing original, commissioned art that would be created and later installed on site.

“Who knew that COVID could change a program for the better? We are delighted to bring art to more communities and at no cost to those communities. From Flin Flon, The Pas, and Norway House in the north to Gimli, Pilot Mound, Roseau River, and Falcon Lake in the south, communities across the province will encounter beauty and art on a daily basis, and have new opportunities for telling the story of their people, history, and culture,” said Manitoba 150 co-chairs, Monique LaCoste and Stuart Murray.

Each piece will tell the story of the community in which it resides, and will inspire art, storytelling, and pride of place for all who see and visit the murals.

“This is an exciting program, and a tremendous legacy project for our province,” said Cathy Cox, Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage. “We are very pleased to see how things adapted and evolved despite all the challenges of the past year. This really speaks to the strength of Manitobans and our love for public art.”

“We’re delighted the program will have an even bigger impact, and inspire greater tourism, and fantastic local pride. Especially after a year of staying home, we appreciate the opportunity to support these great Manitoba communities in sharing their stories through art,” said Chris Noonan, Senior Vice-President, Operations of CWB National Leasing.

“After a successful pilot year in 2019, our team is thrilled to be expanding this project into more communities across Manitoba. We strongly believe all people should have equal access to public arts and arts programming and we’re excited to see and hear the impact these murals will have in each community,” said Andrew Eastman, co-founder and co-curator of Synonym Art Consultation.

The communities will now begin to work with the artist of their choosing to tell their story. Stay tuned for the mural reveals over the summer.

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