Local artist brightens up Dartmouth community with colourful mural

Massive mural: Giant work of art A bright mural has popped up in a busy Dartmouth neighbourhood and when it's complete it will span almost 130 metres.

HALIFAX — A colourful mural has popped up in a busy Dartmouth neighborhood and once it's complete, it will span almost 130 metres.

Lynda McConnell, who’s been an artist her whole life, is the mastermind behind the piece of art.

"Back in late July, The Village on Main put out a request for proposals for a mural on the retaining wall here that was just bare concrete. I think it's been there about 25 years," said McConnell.

The executive director of The Village on Main, Graziella Grbac, says they put out the call to add a bit of brightness to their small community.

"There's very little public property in The Village on Main. It's about a kilometer in radius," said Grbac.

"It's a piece of Main Street, and Tacoma, and Lakecrest. Very little, lots of grey and we thought, you know what, there's somewhere that we can add some colour."

McConnell says when she started brainstorming ideas, the options seemed endless.

"When I started looking into what they had around here that I could highlight, it seemed like there was everything," explained McConnell.

"There was wellness, holistic health, there are churches, and baseball diamonds, you know, businesses. It's a whole bunch of everything and it seems to work really well."

And although McConnell is proud of all of her work, she says she does have a favourite part of her newest mural.

"The veterans part is my favourite," said McConnell. "That's my tribute to veterans, those who served, and those who are still serving now."

"Before that part starts, but it hasn’t been painted yet, there's a little bit more to that, and it kind of leads into the soldiers and the poppies, and that all is leading into the rainbow, and the rainbow is going to come all the way down the hill. So it helps it flow and it brings the whole thing together with all the different components that are in it."

McConnell says the centre of the mural consists of a big heart with a pulse going through it. The background for the heart will have at least 22 different skin tones.

"That's to represent everybody that I can possibly think of to represent," said McConnell.

"It just warms my heart and we're getting a lot of good feedback. It’s good for her, it's good for us, it's good for the community," said Grbac.

McConnell says she hopes the mural will bring a bit of joy to people who see it.

"It's colourful and all the people in it are colourful, and I want people to remember that we're all colourful people and everybody they see has a life story," said McConnell.

"And everybody they see is hoping to do as best they can with the life they've got and help people along the way."

The Village on Main is a community improvement district that has over 160 businesses, with over 40 health and wellness facilities and other shops and services.

Their goal is to be a welcoming community where people of all ages and abilities feel they belong.