A husband and wife art duo is hoping to inspire curiosity with a new mural in St. Albert. The Long Play was unveiled on an outdoor bouldering wall in Element Park on Monday. The handmade tile mosaic, built by Erin Pankratz and Christian Pérès Gibaut of Red Knot Studio, features colour and movement that are open to interpretation. “We always try to create something that opens the possibility for people to ask questions [more] than to have answers,” Gibaut said. “We try to create things that are not prescriptive, and are more like an invitation for people to imagine.” “It’s joyful and whimsical and super imaginative and playful, and that was the goal for the artists,” said Jacilyn Blackwood, visual arts coordinator for the City of St. Albert. Both Gibaut and Pankratz have worked internationally and have art featured around Alberta. Recently, the pair won an award for their joint artwork A Mischief of Could Be(s) in downtown Edmonton. Their newest mural unveiled Monday was a collaboration with local residents. “They learned from the community, what they loved and what they thought was cool about the space,” Blackwood said. “Kids came and did drawings and made things with mosaics.” In June, members of the public were invited to create their own tiles to be added into the finished piece. The artists said they hope that gives people a sense of ownership over the public artwork. “We want people to fall in love with it, engage with it, and take ownership of it, so that it becomes part of that park’s history,” Pankratz said in a media release. “In a way, public art is telling you, ‘you belong here,’” Gibaut says. “Because whoever you are, that public art was placed there for you.” Blackwood said the mural is the second in St. Albert and the largest mosaic in the community at 147 square feet.
