Spotlight on Our Creative Home: Cartwright Mural Project

Art, culture and creativity can be found in every nook and cranny across our province. From storytelling sessions and impromptu concerts at kitchen parties to plays at our many community theatre festivals, murals and more, the arts continue to inspire and ignite the creative spark that lives within us all while bringing generations together.

Our towns and cities are the home of our art and culture. Now, thanks to the work of Inuk visual artist Monika (Dee-Jay) Rumbolt, there's a new piece of public art in Cartwright to enjoy.

On the side of the Marion Centre, home of the Sandwich Bay 50+ Club and Sandwich Bay Community Hub, a colourful scene shows two women each playing a drum while another sits nearby boiling a kettle over a fire. Behind them, fishermen haul in a net while a whale splashes next to their boat and in the distance, another individual carries buckets towards a tent. In the bottom left corner, a pair of caribou antlers sit among local flora.

Artist Monika (Dee-Jay) Rumbolt adds the final touches to her mural at the Marion Centre in Cartwright.

The artwork, which was painted on 8 x 4 plywood and then affixed to the building, is part of the Our Creative Home initiative. Supported by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador for Year of the Arts and delivered by Municipalities NL and Business & Arts NL, Our Creative Home helps municipalities across the province commission a mural or create an artist-in-residence program to reflect their community, engage the public and demonstrate our rich artistic heritage. The Paint Shop also donated $300 worth of paints for each mural as part of the initiative.

Hailing from the southern coast of Labrador, Rumbolt says it was important for her to establish a connection with Cartwright by visiting and speaking with as many people in the community as possible.

"The community's voice had to come through this piece, I was just the loud speaker that got to amplify it," she says.

"It was the town of Cartwright that inspired its concept from start to finish. I visited them during their heritage week celebrations, and had a moment to speak with many wonderful residents about what made Cartwright and the surrounding area special to them. There were several important themes that came to light like culture, sustainable harvesting practices, intergenerational knowledge sharing, and creating a bridge from the past to the present in the hopes to inspire a better future. From youth to elders there was a common reflection that the land was vital to their wellbeing."

It's a part of the process that Priscilla Clark, project lead and Sandwich Bay 50+ Club volunteer board member, particularly appreciated.

"Monika was excellent. She took it upon herself to come to the community to talk with people about her project and ask for suggestions on what she should include on the mural," she says.

"I've seen a lot of murals in other parts of NL and when this opportunity came across my desk, I responded."

It took Rumbolt two months to complete the mural, travelling several times between her home in Labrador City to a heated facility in Goose Bay where the piece was stored. It was officially unveiled in Cartwright this past fall, where, Clark says, it's been "very well received" and has helped grow pride in the community.

"It has a very positive impact. At the community luncheon, Monika explained what the mural represented and how it presented Cartwright," she says.

"I have heard a lot of comments from community members. It's a great addition to our community. We need more of this. Cartwright has a lot of history to portray through murals like this."

Monika (Dee-Jay) Rumbolt (right) with Priscilla Clark.

The first time she saw her piece at its new home, Rumbolt says one simple word came to mind: "Natural."

"That was my first thought when it had been installed on the community centre. It looked so natural there, like it completely belonged. And that's what I truly wanted for the residents of Cartwright, to have a piece that reflected them so much that it blended into the fabric of their community," she says.

She's been thrilled to see pictures on social media of people posing by the mural, noting "I think it's been a good focal point of the town for visitation."

In addition to helping enhance an important hub in the community, the project also gave Rumbolt the chance to develop other skills that go hand-in-hand with being an artist, like budgeting and community relations, she says. "But," she adds "the biggest takeaway was something that bled over to me as a researcher. It was the experience to have a community truly lead the process from start to finish. As an artist (and researcher), when we come into a space we already have some idea or preconceived plan about how things should work and flow. However, once I started talking to community members all of that went out the window."

"From inspiration to concepts and design, many residents were greatly involved and shared lots of beautiful stories and ideas. It was just my job to blend them together in a tapestry that honoured their creativity and sense of being."