Corner brook public art initiative

The Corner Brook Public Art Initiative brings art, artists, and audiences together in public spaces in Corner Brook and surrounding area. Public art in all of its forms adds enormous value to the cultural, aesthetic, and economic vitality of a community. Contemporary public art creates a powerful sense of place, that is unique and dynamic. Corner Brook has a large and vital visual arts community boasting professional artists and curators working at regional, provincial, and international levels. It is home to the province’s only School of Fine Arts, as well as several art galleries, visual arts-based festivals, and artist run organizations. As the centre of visual arts in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Corner Brook Public Art Initiative seeks to catalyze the potential of visual arts in Corner Brook as a seed for innovation, civic engagement, and community.

The Corner Brook Public Art Initiative has installed a series of three site-responsive temporary public artworks in and around the city's downtown and along the Corner Brook Stream Trail. As part of a public call for project proposals, artists were asked to consider the theme ‘habitat’ or the Mi’kmaw concept of ”Netukulimk” as it pertains to the people and environment of Corner Brook and surrounding region. As a thematic jumping off point Habitat is understood as a place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows, as well as the typical place of residence of a person or a group. Netukulimk is understood as the natural bounty provided by our environment for the self-support and well-being of the individual and the community.

The Corner Brook Public Art Initiative is a collaboration of the City of Corner Brook, Memorial University’s art gallery the Grenfell Art Gallery, and the Tina Dolter Gallery, Rotary Arts Centre.

When the Rubber Meets the Road, 2018

Gerald Beaulieu (b. Welland, ON / Traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabeg, lives in Stratford, PEI)

mixed media sculpture

Fabricated almost entirely from recycled tires, Gerald Beaulieu’s roadkill crow weighs 851 lbs and measures five metres in length. Highly adaptive and intelligent, crows are a sentinel species, indicating environmental risk to humans and providing advance warning. In both

material and form, Beaulieu’s work has a poetic wit: in When the Rubber Meets the Road, the advance warning is of the deadly consequences on our environment of human action; the life-like vacant eyes of the crow a piercing reminder of the urgent need for stewardship of the environment; and the ingenious use of material as a path forward through innovation and resourcefulness.

A graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, Gerald Beaulieu is primarily a sculptor and installation artist. He has had over 80 solo and group exhibitions across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. His work is in numerous public collections including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Beaverbrook Art Gallery and Confederation Centre Art Gallery. His permanent and temporary works have been installed in a number of cities in Canada.

permit for swans, 2022

Ashley Hemmings and Kevin Melanson (St. John’s, NL/Ktaqmkuk)

hand-pieced quilt, appliqué text

This artwork critically explores the theme of Habitat, by noting that the Glynmill Inn Pond is not the natural habitat of swans—it is not a place where swans normally would live. They are introduced and thus, have an impact on the native species of waterfowl, plants and other wildlife. The artists note, hence the title, Permit for Swans, that there are rules imposed by federal regulations which limit the number of swans that may be owned by a municipality. Additionally the work examines the relationship between humans and wildlife in a municipal environment. The artists are also interested in how a textile work will change over time as it is exposed to the elements and wildlife.

Ashley Hemmings and Kevin Melanson are visual artists based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Ashley holds a BFA (Visual Arts) from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and an MFA (Visual Arts) from the University of Windsor. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University, and is picking away at a Diploma in Creative Writing from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Kevin and Ashley maintain separate art practices, but collaborate occasionally on duck-themed artworks.

Corner Brook Stream Trail Stepping Stones, 2022

Susy Randell

mixed media mosaic with cement

Susy Randall explores the theme of Habitat by celebrating the language of Indigenous people of this region, Elmastukwek, The twenty-two mosaic stepping stones--rendered in glass, tile and

ceramic--along the trail feature sayings and phrases in Mi’kmaw language as well as words referencing the flora and fauna of the area. The artist’s intent is both to spread the word of her Indigenous ancestors and to reach out to the community-at-large.

Susy Randell is a visual artist originally from Corner Brook and now living in Eastern Newfoundland and is a member of the Qalipu First Nation Band. The artist studied Design at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario and received her BFA in Visual Arts from the School of Fine Arts, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland. In addition to being an arts educator, Randell is a free-lance graphic designer and has completed several personal and community-based art projects.