This is one of two murals by Turunen for the Festival of Arts, but the only one that survives.

This mural features the history of education in Welland, with actual portraits of real people from historic photos dating back to the late 1890s. The school building depicted is Welland Central Public School (which opened in 1900) with its first principal Mr. Dowkes. The artist painted students from multiple eras (the mural is framed by cheerleaders and football players from the 1959 Welland High yearbook).

This was the largest mural painted in 1989. Risto (based in Surrey, BC) worked as a designer and illustrator until 1979 when he decided to pursue a full time career as a fine artist. Since 2010 he has been working in animation after graduating from Sheridan College’s Computer Animation program.

Education is perhaps the most severely damaged mural still standing. Large sections of paint are scaling off. The majority of damage has been caused by children throwing rocks from the nearby parking lot at the mural to show their dislike of the subject matter.

Although it is difficult to see the damage and vandalism, it’s necessary to confront this in going forward in formulating a policy with community stakeholders and civic groups to ensure that realistic and actionable policy shapes all future public art projects in the city.

Our next Meet & Greet is February 3rd at Bank Art House.
Everyone is welcome to join us. Follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter for more updates.

With our weekly posts about Welland artists and significant artistic works in the city, WCN is continuing to highlight the Welland Murals. Over the progression of these posts, we’re now looking at some of the murals that have endured significant damage as an impetus towards a more effective arts & culture policy from the city and relevant stakeholders.