I recently had the unexpected privilege of working alongside an emerging Jasper mural artist, Keenan Sillence, on a large-scale, outdoor piece for Jasper’s inaugural and wildly successful UpLift Mural Festival. Rightfully declared a “homegrown hero” by festival directors, Keenan was presented with the difficult challenge of painting a multi-angled loading dock on a multitude of industrial surfaces.
Mythological Traditions
The mural is in a style called ukiyo-e, which is like a painting done on a woodblock also known as a woodblock print. The narrative is based on an avant-garde Japanese anime TV series called Mononoke that is set in feudal Japan.
At the time I offered Keenan Sillence my assistance, I happened to be re-reading Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth. As I worked on the mural, I entered an extraordinary collective memory involving primordial societies painting hieroglyphs of animals and spiritual beings on the walls of caves.
The symbols of mythology and legend are all around us, embedded in the fabric of our daily lives, and mural art can be a good, fairly accessible portal for recognizing and understanding their meanings.
Assisting a local mural artist in the execution of this glittering wall piece offered a provocative glimpse into the ancient world of feudal societies and the need for ecological protection.