City’s largest mural ‘transforms’ Ottawa Community Housing building

The city’s largest mural, entitled Transformation: The Welcoming Ottawa Mural was unveiled at 215 Wurtemburg on November 3.

The mural is showcased on the south wall of the building, facing Rideau Street. It helps to beautify the building and highlight the diversity of the community.

The concept for the mural comes from it’s aim – which is to celebrate Welcoming Ottawa Week – an annual week of events created to convey the welcome and hospitality of Ottawa residents to newcomers. The mural will become a heritage component of that week.

The butterfly with the multi-coloured eyes was designed by professional artist and community arts based facilitator Claudia Salguero after conversations with residents from across the city. Salguero brought together a team of dedicated community members, who created the mural piece by piece in several locations. Each of the 68 four by four feet pieces joined together to form the Welcoming Ottawa Mural on the wall of 215 Wurtemburg Street..

The project was made possible thanks to a partnership between Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership, Ottawa Community Housing (OCH), the Tenant Circle at 215 Wurtemburg, and the Lowertown Community Resource Centre.

The mural received funding from the City of Ottawa’s Diversity in the Arts Fund, as well as Crime Prevention Ottawa and OCH.

Quotes:

“It’s an honour for OCHC to be able to showcase this project, as it will be a point of pride for tenants, for many years to come. The mural concept was the result of a very inclusive and collaborative process. It included the input of more than 60 volunteers from across the city under the leadership of artist and community activist Claudia Salguero. The product reflects the diversity of our city and OCHC communities. ” Stéphane Giguère, Chief Executive Officer for OCHC

“The City of Ottawa is proud to fund the Paint It Up! Program – a unique program that encourages and supports youth-at-risk to use their artistic talents to create outdoor murals in neighbourhoods experiencing graffiti vandalism. This mural was not only created by community spirit; it creatively reflects our diverse and inclusive community. Newcomers are an essential component to our city’s continued growth, vibrancy, and economic prosperity.”
Mayor Jim Watson, City of Ottawa

“This is a beautiful project which adds to the visual richness of Lowertown, a neighbourhood long known for its cultural diversity and its integration of newcomers.”
Matthew Beutel, Executive Director, Lowertown Community Resource Centre.

“We are delighted to see the Transformation mural unveiled today, which was created by the community and for the community to celebrate Ottawa’s diversity, underline the importance of inclusion and enhance awareness of the contributions of newcomers to Ottawa. The mural partnership exemplifies the power of partnerships and the benefits of bringing diverse perspectives together. A special thanks goes to the lead artist, Claudia Salguero. Because of her creativity, tenacity, hard work and unique ability to bring so many volunteers together from across the city, this mural became a reality. Transformation was inspired by Welcoming Ottawa Week, an annual series of events that conveys the city’s genuine hospitality to and appreciation of newcomers from all over the world who join our community every year and then become us. It is an invitation to embrace our differences, learn from each other and become better human beings and a better community. We are particularly pleased that the mural will become a permanent legacy of Welcoming Ottawa Week.”
Hindia Mohamoud, Director, OLIP

About Ottawa Community Housing
Ottawa Community Housing Corporation (OCH) provides approximately 15,000 homes to over 32,000 tenants, including seniors, parents, children, couples, singles and persons with special needs, within many communities across the City of Ottawa. OCH houses a diverse population of varying languages, ethnicity and cultures. OCH is the largest social housing provider in Ottawa, managing two-thirds of the City’s social housing portfolio, and is the second largest in Ontario.

About OLIP
The Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP) is a multi-sectoral partnership involving 60 local organizations working on a shared vision and common priorities designed to build local capacity to attract, settle, and integrate immigrants in five sectors: education; economic integration; health and wellbeing; language; and socio-civic integration.

About Lowertown Community Resource Centre
The Lowertown Community Resource Centre strives to improve the quality of life of individuals, as well as the collectivity as a whole, by promoting community engagement.

Quick facts:

• More than 60 community volunteers were involved in the painting of the mural.
• The design is made up of 68, four foot by four foot panels.
• Volunteers donated 147 hours for the creation of the mural.
• Participants who volunteered on the project represent 32 different countries.
• The artist led 49 painting workshops.