Burlington Downtown Unveils New Mural
Burlington Downtown Unveils New Mural Celebrating the Vibrancy and Resilience of the Downtown Community.
Burlington’s Downtown core just became even more colourful thanks to a new mural celebrating the vibrancy and resilience of the downtown community. Located just north of Lakeshore Rd. at 404 John St., the mural is the vision and accomplishment of Canadian artist, Chris Perez. The colourful homage to the city’s downtown business area took a week to complete and was made possible through STEPS Public Art’s I HeArt Main Street Program, and local sponsors, The Molinaro Group, Creature Comforts HVAC and The Cover Guy.
“For over 55 years the Molinaro Group has proudly developed innovative properties that inspire and contribute to the Burlington community,” said Robert Molinaro, Vice President, Molinaro Group. “That’s why we didn’t hesitate to offer the exterior of one of our properties for this exciting project. We hope the new mural brings joy and inspiration for all who live, work and visit downtown Burlington.”
The Burlington mural is part of a larger, province-wide program, driven by STEPS Public Art called I HeART Main Street. STEPS Public Art (@stepspublicart) is a Canadian-based public art organization that fosters dynamic, inclusive and resilient communities through one-of-a-kind art initiatives, like the mural created for Downtown Burlington. Their I HeArt Main street program works with BIAs across Ontario to celebrate local culture, foster vibrant spaces, and support main street recovery through public art initiatives and paid artist opportunities. STEPS I HeArt Main Street program is presented in partnership with RBC Royal Bank and the City of Toronto, and generously supported by Canada Healthy Communities Initiative funded by the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation for activations in Peel Region, and funding provided by the Government of Ontario.
Chris Perez, (@chrisperez), the professional artist chosen for the Burlington project, is known for his practice in abstract painting and mural art. Chris’s vision for this piece was to create a bright and colourful, floral composition that would evoke a sense of joy and change through movement and abstract expressionism. Assisting Chris Perez was Burlington’s own Aiden Kenny (@_ehdan_).
Before the final touches were applied, Chris had a fun visit, and some “help” from Tim Bolen and CH News. Click here or scroll below to watch the segment that includes interviews with Chris, Praneti Kulkarni, Agency Manager from Steps Public Art and Downtown Burlington’s own Samantha Statham, Manager of Marketing & Events at the Burlington Downtown Business Association.
MURAL PHOTO CONTEST – CLOSED. Please scroll down for list of winners.
Starting today, all are invited to visit the mural and to share their experience for a chance to win a $50 gift card to be used at participating downtown Burlington businesses. To enter, participants simply take a photo of the mural and share it via social media, tagging @dtburlingtonon or by emailing your submission to the Burlington Downtown Business Association, at samantha@burlingtondowntown.ca . Winners will be selected based on photo creativity. All submissions must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on November 30, 2021. The contest is open to Ontario residents only.
Thank you to our sponsors for making this beautiful mural possible.
- Miryana Andovska
- Areeba Zaidi
- Al Kazmi
- Sara Mody
- Kelly Jones (winning being donated to Women’s Shelter)
- The Burlington Moms Group #1 (winning being donated to Women’s Shelter)
- The Burlington Moms Group #2 (winning being donated to Women’s Shelter)
- Caitlin Belanger
- Aly Church
- Kiersten Forkes
- Katherine Oke
- Mozelle Cole
- Crystal Quibell
- Mary Futers
- Cody Forkes
- HOVR 4 Media (Andre Deverlie)
- Courtney Kelly
- Lisa Fogt
- D’NOTA
- Ambar Gordon