The BUMP Festival, a major public art initiative, is underway this month to showcase many talented artists through mural art across Calgary’s urban areas.
The art festival launched in 2017 and has over 400 commissioned artworks since its foundation.
Nine new artists will be creating murals around the city, along with five performing artists playing at CALDERA, the festival’s designated rave, on August 15.
Geneva Haley is an Albertan artist who’s creating a mural in downtown Calgary. Haley gets inspiration from traditional scientific illustration. Part of her artistic and conservation goals are to connect people to the natural side of Alberta and what makes it so special, as well as to understand the impact humans have on the surrounding environment.
Haley hopes to foster that connection with her art.
“What I’m trying to do is highlight our biome here and help people get to know native grasslands specifically. It’s the most endangered ecosystem in North America and we’re really lucky to be around it. But, unlike the mountains, its an ecosystem that requires little bit of patience to see all it has to offer. So I’m trying to highlight that and help people see what they normally can’t,” Haley said.
Haley is inspired to build and create relationships with the natural environment. She has a Patreon where subscribers are encouraged to connect with the outdoors through various creative prompts and create artistic projects.
Along with making art, Haley is passionate about showcasing art within neighbourhoods and districts.
“I think public art is so incredibly important to a community, especially in a society nowadays. It’s like a gift for the public. It’s for the public, and the public should have access to art that reflects them, and that reflection is just for them,” Haley said.
Just a few blocks away from Haley, another artist is working on a project.
Ayoub Abid, also known as NORMAL, is creating a mural on the side of an apartment complex. He says his work reminds him of “ordered chaos,” with much of his art featuring burst of colour and geometric shapes.
Similar to Haley, Abid says public art plays an important role helping to build healthy communities, especially when urban setting are dominated by corporations and consumerism. As such, Abid hopes that by turning banal landscapes into colourful expressions he’ll create a richer human experience.
“In public spaces we are constantly exposed to either monotonous spaces or worse, advertisements. So, having a piece put out there with intention — maybe a piece that somebody might see on a daily basis or for somebody just visiting, the relationship to everyone will change — but you know that someone put it there with intention.”
Abid adds, “It’s not to sell you anything, and in my case, it’s not supposed to give you any specific message. It’s just there, and you can have a moment of contemplation, maybe to try and understand, or to just receive the reflections that it sends to you.”
