Although the Up Here 9 urban art and music festival took place last weekend, its legacy lives on through the murals painted onto buildings in Sudbury’s historic downtown core.
Five new murals now grace downtown buildings, which join six electric boxes boasting smaller paintings throughout the city.
“What I really love about this year’s murals is that each one was so different from the other, and they bring new voices and representation to Sudbury we haven’t had yet,” We Live Up Here “top banana” Jaymie Lathem told Sudbury.com on Tuesday, her voice still hoarse from the weekend festival.
With each mural unique, she pulled aside Japanese-American artist JUURI’s piece, "HIKESHI,” which she painted next to Pho Noodle House in downtown Sudbury, as an example of blended voices.
JUURI drew inspiration from both her Japanese roots as well as the Vietnamese restaurant owner’s culture.
“She was able to incorporate lotus flowers, which are a Vietnamese traditional flower, so there really was a combination and partnership going on there to ensure representation was brought,” Lathem said.
Toronto artist Yung Yemi’s piece, "Stay connected. Stay blessed,” painted at Old City Hall Lane, is a high-contrast black and white piece striving “to tap into the continuum between our past, our future and the ecosystems that sustain us,” while Vancuover artist Jean Paul Langlois' mural at the side of the Sudbury Theatre Centre building is a vibrant display of landscape and animals, called, "A Young Prince Hounded by Ignoble Beasts Pressed into Man's Servitude Or My Dogs in the Road.”
After a rocky start due to provincial funding not coming in as expected, a mural by artist Katie Green was cancelled. A subsequent outpouring of support allowed them to re-invite the Alberta-based artist, who painted a colourful watercolour-inspired display on the 84 Station building downtown.
Local artist Maxine Lemieux produced a desert landscape piece called "Are We There Yet?" on the side of the Aaron Taxi building at 422-426 Elgin St.
Lemieux took a “go big or go home” approach, Lathem said, “and she went big.”
One component of last weekend’s Up Here festival will carry forward to Aug. 27, with photographer Braeden Martel’s exhibit, “Ghost Murals / Up Here 9” remaining available for viewing at the Art Gallery of Sudbury.
The exhibit is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 12-5 p.m.
“It’s a manifestation of a Sudbury that once was,” Martel told Sudbury.com of his exhibit. “The downtown is quirky and beautiful, and those murals are a part of that.”
A “reflection of time,” he said the exhibit is a living documentation of local history, and that with the annual Up Here festivities bringing several new murals to the landscape every year, there will be plenty of exhibits in the photographic series’ future.
This year’s Up Here festival was another in a series of success stories, Lathem said, crediting Family Day on Saturday as bringing together Greater Suburians from all walks of life to their Durham Street festival grounds, where sod filled the street and a geodesic dome served as a centrepiece.
A Friday night pop-up performance by local rock band Diva Worship was another highlight, she said. Their concert took place at the Refettorio outdoor theatre space as the first public performance at the downtown venue.
“That was special in itself,” she said. “Just to see that space being lit up and folks being super enthralled with the show, but also exploring the space and looking around and being so excited for this cultural venue.”
The Refettorio’s official opening is tonight, for the opening night performance of Romeo and Juliet beginning at 7 p.m.
Up Here will return at this time next year for Up Here 10, Lathem said, adding that people should expect “epic music, great murals, and some glitter and surprises along the way.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
