Unionville Main Street’s Instamural
Hart Hause celebrates the vibrant community of Unionville by showcasing the many shops and amenities it offers. A key component of Unionville’s charm is its strong Arts and Culture spirit supported by local galleries, theatre and annual events. Hart Hause recognizes the transformative power the arts play within a beautiful community. By engaging local student talent from the Arts Unionville specialized arts program, Hart Hause sponsored the creation of the hundred foot. Installation Mural (Insta-Mural) in celebration and as an affirmation of Unionville and Hart Hause’s commitment to environmental sustainability and LivGreen technologies.
From left: Councillor Keith Irish, George LeDonne (Ledgemark Homes),
Councillor Reid McAlpine, Angela Huo (student artist), Deputy Mayor Don Hamilton
The mural illustrates the internal and external paradigm shift required to create a harmonious balance between humankind and the environment.
Solutions to the climate crisis are often perceived to be solely technological in nature, focusing on the development and implementation of innovative sustainable technologies and practices. Although a fundamental step, navigating these global challenges requires all of our human faculties and dimensions. Understanding and responding to the climate crisis is not solely an intellectual, right brain, exercise.
Through the numerous Industrial and Technological Revolutions our right-brained mindset developed technologies and justified their use as a means to commodity the planet’s resources. Today, the challenges require a compliment to logic and reason. The mindset of commodifying natural resources must be balanced with a left-brain mindset that considers divergent possibilities, empathy (in design), intuition and creativity as problem solving tools to reveal and understand the multifaceted dimensions of this challenge.
For the first time in human history the collective human condition is determining our global relationship with the Earth. The state of the Earth is a reflection of the values and beliefs of its stewards. If science and technology alone could turn the tide it would have done so by now; it is a change of heart and spirit that will be our salvation.
The mural is an affirmation of our profound connection to one another and to Earth. It illustrates those technological innovations within our community that are helping restore balance with the environment, while reminding us that we cannot solve global environmental challenges with the same mindset that created them. Only when we find internal harmony between the mind and spirit can we reach our full potential and rise to the challenges before us.
Title: Level U-1 Artists: Sasha Tarassova and Sabrina Kong Title: The Force of Nature Artists: Katerina Tsoulogiannis
This section of the mural aims to create a whimsical and nostalgic connection between reality and imagination. The artwork is designed to emulate the style of side-scrolling video games while referencing Markham as a high tech capital. The lively, colourful style connects both younger and older audiences to create a full-fledged interactive photo-taking experience. Viewers can pose to grab coins, obtain power-ups, and encounter curious creatures. The setting draws inspiration from the historical architecture of Main Street Unionville to encourage interest in the area. This design aims to celebrate and encourage curiosity and play within the community.
Title: Nature and Humility Artists: Victoria and Amy Title: Mother Nature Artists: Hayley
Our society is built on our inherent ability to innovate and reimagine our way of life. Through our meticulousness of creating modernity, we tend to forget that the foundation of all that we are and have comes from nature. Our existence stems back to a divine power that began the universe and our world. Both around us and deep within us, we are inseparable from nature - our bodies, minds, and lives depend on the air we breathe and the food we eat. The earth sustains our livelihoods. Without the earth - without nature - what would we be? To remind ourselves of the roots of our existence, this section of the mural embodies both the feminine and the masculine side of nature.
The hand extending from the left side is a reference to God’s hand from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The hand surrounded by fruits and flowers reminds us that as children of the Earth we are indivisible from nature. Visitors can outstretch their hand to touch Adam’s fingertips as God did in the original artwork. This cheeky appropriation reminds us that in the 21st century humans possess the power to create and sustain or destroy nature on a globals scale, a power reserved for the gods when Michelangelo painted the Creation of Adam in 1512.
The right side of the mural recognizes the feminine symbol of life commonly known as Mother Nature. Surrounding her are products created from her natural resources, products we often take for granted. A sustainable ecosystem and society must function reciprocally, returning what was used.
Title: Beextinction Artists: Erika Yuen, Lala Leung, Angela Huo
In our modern world, people face the trade-off between convenience and ethical behaviour. One of the most alarming examples that threaten our existence is an issue that we’ve created with our own hands: the endangerment of bees. Due to global warming and the excessive use of pesticides, the bee population has seen a decrease in its numbers since 2006. If humans continue to carry out our harmful and unsustainable methods of growing crops, the bee species (who are our natural pollinators) will inevitably go extinct.
This mural intends to raise awareness towards the bee species that we as a society have so often taken for granted. It inspires the importance of environmental sustainability as it places a warning to protect this species which currently faces the threat of extinction. The brightly saturated hues of yellow of the honeycombs and glistening textures of the dripping honey will immediately attract attention from bypassers and people in the Unionville community. Yellow, a colour that represents hope and positivity, will also create emotional appeal to onlookers to encourage them to advocate for more sustainable technology to reduce their ecological footprint and to save the bees. This meaningful and vibrant mural is also designed to be “Instagram-worthy” to generate more publicity and awareness for the endangerment of bees and the Hart House’s support for sustainable technology. Interactive QR codes are incorporated within the mural allowing those of all ages to learn more about the bee population issue. This will inspire members of the community to take their own initiatives to sustain our environment.
Title: Hart to Heart Artists: Evan Li, Lauren Tang
The mural depicts the expansion of human innovation and consciousness through a multifaceted approach to understanding where all ways of knowing including, but not limited to: science, mathematics, philosophy, arts, etc; help bring into focus a greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to be human in an ever expanding universe. The mechanical heart surrounded by flowers illustrates our innovative spirit and connection to the earth. While the dodecahedron opens to reveal the hidden nature and potential of the universe. The two sides of the mural are rendered using different computer graphic styles, the heart is two dimensional while the dodecahedron is three dimensional. This additional dimension, moving from two to three, illustrates the leap in awareness required to achieve our greatest collective potential, both intellectually and emotionally. A handprint on the lower control panel of the dodecahedron invites passers-by to touch the mural as an affirmation to reach greater awareness.