“How do you keep people engaged from start to finish?”
Artist Peter Nguyen reflects on the challenge and opportunity of working on a project with a scope beyond what many would have the patience to appreciate. He recently completed a mural at Cantiro West Block, which is the home to several local businesses on the corner of 142 Street and Stony Plain Road.
The mural takes you from sunrise to sunset with visuals that represent the businesses along the space—suggesting a day of exploring the area is a day well spent. Enjoying the cafes, restaurants, salons and shops, you find hints of many of them within the installation, which spans more than the length of an average city block.
Halfway down the block and mural, Peters hints at an answer to his question, illustrating in bold words: “Good things take time.” We can stay engaged when we know we are better for it in the end.
Just behind the 300-metre mural–perhaps the longest in the city–is construction for the Valley Line West LRT. It will deliver on a long-awaited desire for many Edmontonians to go to West Edmonton Mall, the Misericordia Hospital or west-end neighbourhoods simply by jumping on a train. The potential is endless.
However, projects of this magnitude take time, and it will be a while before we get to experience the vision the train promises to deliver. If the project’s timeline was like the theme of Peter’s mural and taking place over the course of a day—Valley Line West is still sipping its mid-morning coffee at Square One.
There are many, though, who believe the LRT is worth the wait. The brand new Cantiro West Block is an early adopter of Valley Line. They, like the businesses anchoring development in the area who see the potential, are prepared to play the long game.
When Cantiro Homes scouted the area for the project, the company saw something amazing. “We found an opportunity to build a community within a community,” says Ryan Smith, President of Cantiro. “Office, residential, retail. For it to work, we needed to have a piece of everything.”
That includes, of course, Valley Line West.
Cantiro’s vision for the area meant the developer has been engaged in the Valley Line West planning from the start.
“We’re really excited about the LRT, but at the time (we purchased the land) the LRT had no funding,” says Smith. “We took a leap of faith, and we worked with the City, right down to the grades at which the future stop would be at so we can integrate our site and plan for the future.”
That engagement has been valuable for those building the LRT as well. Lynley Kotyk manages Stakeholder Relations with Marigold Infrastructure Partners, Valley Line West’s construction contractor.
“Marigold values being a good neighbour and working with stakeholders to create opportunities that support a vibrant business corridor during construction.”
Marigold, Cantiro and the City were all on board when it came time to commission Nguyen’s mural. The spanning piece of art has a lot in common with the Valley Line West project. VLW is the City’s longest LRT expansion project in Edmonton’s history. Nguyen embodied a similar philosophy as the Valley Line West team and grounded his design by incorporating elements of the community.
A large prairie sky provides a backdrop for a variety of images that are both familiar, and surprising, for Edmontonians who pass by. An outstretched hand offering a flower is a symbol many would be happy to have associated with their home. But what about a prowling leopard, or a soaring paper airplane? Well, they too have their place now—these symbols represent the names of some of the businesses adjacent to the mural. These businesses also believe in the potential of the area. Edmontonians are encouraged to stop by and find out more about the inspiration behind the art.
The best thing about Nguyen’s “Good Things Take Time” mural is, after a while, imagination takes over and you start envisioning the symbols you would add, or would like to see, that embody the city. The same holds true for Valley Line West: if you can just imagine what you would like to see there, you know that everything’s coming together to make it possible.
For more information on the Valley Line West LRT project, go to www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/transit/valley-line-west.
Editor’s note: the pic at the top of the post shows the text of Peter Nguyen’s 300-metre installation at Cantiro West Block.