The City of Williams Lake has styled itself the
Mural Capital of the Cariboo and not without good reason. It was the local chapter of
Communities in Bloom which provided the initial impetus for a downtown mural project. The project was embraced by city council and got underway in (as best we can tell) 2002 with the first mural,
When Duty Calls, being placed on the fire hall in 2002. The artist was Dwayne Davis of
Davis Arts. Davis has been the artist for the majority of the downtown murals, which now total around 30, some inside but the majority outside.
One may check out all the downtown murals at the Mural Tour.
Again a Dwayne Davis work, this was one of the earliest to be created as part of the mural project, being completed in 2003. The mural depicts Williams Lake's four major industries - Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism/Rodeo and Mining. The "Rodeo" refers to the Williams Lake Stampede, an annual rodeo held the beginning of July every year since 1920, taking a several year hiatus during World War II. It has become one of Canada's largest and best known rodeos.
Four Industries
92 2nd Ave. N., Williams Lake, BC V2G 1M1 Canada
Artist: Dwayne Davis, 2003
Funded by: Communities in Bloom, City of Williams Lake
About:
Communities in Bloom (CIB) asked Dwayne for a mural of local industry. Dwayne chose the four industries depicted, and CIB approved his design. The cowboy and the horse are not based on specific individuals to give a timeless and universal feel to the figures. End of the Roll had just moved into the building and they were happy to see the mural going up. The mural depicts Williams Lake’s four industries, from left to right: Ranching, tourism/rodeo, logging and mining.
Artistic Notes:
Dwayne’s challenge was to combine such different scenes into a single congruous work. He wanted to give each industry its own space and tie them into a shared experience, a goal and a challenge that faces Williams Lake’s diverse community. To achieve his goal, Dwayne focused on areas of colour, thinking in blocks and shapes rather than image details. The rider and horse figure work as a separation between our oldest industry on the left, and our two more modern industries on the right, the cowboy embodying the courage and resilience that has pulled our community through the ups and downs that come with a natural resource-based economy. Dwayne had some help with the cows from his son Steven.
From Downtown Williams Lake
