Murals of Duck Lake - 3

Before we leave this little Saskatchewan town, let's take in a few slice-of-pioneer-life murals...

This painting celebrates the coming of the railroad.

This charming mural helps us experience recess at the one-room school.

And which child growing up on a prairie farm hasn't heard threshing tales, complete with descriptions of meals and coffee brought to the field?

Murals of Duck Lake - 2

A few more murals from Duck Lake...

In the decades before the northwest rebellion, the main street of Duck Lake was part of a system of trails and waterways known as the Carlton Trail. It linked Winnipeg in what is now the province of Manitoba with Edmonton in present day Alberta. Below are details from the mural, "Carlton Trail" and below that the entire painting.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)






In the mural below artist Glen Scrimshaw shows a settler crossing the river using a red river cart as a raft.


Inscription at the bottom left:

Imagine... In the early 1800s a young native youth no more than five winters old lying hidden on the river bank catching his first glimpse of the "White Man." His grandfather has told him of these men, their odd way of dressing and the funny looking buffalo that pull their noisy means of transportation. This is so strange! I must ran back to my people's camp and tell the elders and everyone of this strange occurrence.

Murals of Duck Lake - 1

On our recent visit to Saskatchewan we took a side trip to the town of Duck Lake in order to see and photograph its historic murals. Many of them illustrate the way things were before the settlers arrived and changes that European settlers brought. They also allude to the events that occurred in and around Duck Lake during the tense time of the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 and after.

(As described by Wikipedia - "The Northwest Rebellion of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful attempt by the Metis people of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel to bring to the attention of the Dominion of Canada their concerns for the survival of their people. It resulted in the complete destruction of all Metis and allied Aboriginal forces, the hanging of Louis Riel, and increased tensions between English Canada and French Canada.")

The specific battle that involved Duck Lake was fought near the beginning of that rebellion on March 26, 1885, when Gabriel Dumont (another Metis leader) defeated the Northwest Mounted Police at Duck Lake.

The Battle of Batoche took place a little later, on May 9th. There Canadian forces under Middleton captured Louis Riel while Gabriel Dumont and others on the Metis side fled into Montana.

(Click on photos to enlarge)




The words on the scroll (left-top) in the mural below:

Listen to the winds of time, they echo the words of promises, promises of treaties and a new beginning...

Sign 'Treaty' with the Great White Mother and the following shall come to pass...

'WHAT I OFFER DOES NOT TAKE AWAY YOUR WAY OF LIFE. YOU WILL HAVE THEN AS YOU HAVE IT NOW... IT WILL BE SO FOR AS LONG AS THE SUN SHINES, THE GRASS GROWS AND THE RIVERS FLOW."

This is a scene of the prairie before the settlers came and divided up the land into square parcels...

...and a detail of the above.

prairie life

As we drove up and down the streets of the various towns and hamlets on our recent trip back 'home' to the prairies, I was, as usual, attracted to the murals. They are all over!

The Saskatchewan town where my husband grew up, Blaine Lake, has some that weren't there the last time we visited.

These first ones are downtown. They illustrate scenes typical of the prairies and the activities of the people. My favorite is the outdoor skating scene, which brings back memories of skating on the dugout.





This painting of Jesus the Good Shepherd is on the Blaine Lake Gospel Chapel.


This striking depiction of Blaine Lake in its grain elevator era is painted on the back of the arena. When I was taking the photo, being careful not to stray off the sidewalk, the lady who lived in the house directly behind me popped her head out her front door and in typical prairie-town fashion invited me to come onto her property to take a better picture. I did - and this is the result (thanks again!).

mosaic murals

This gorgeous mural titled "Trust" was put together by Lewis Lavoie and is a mosaic. It is made up of one-foot-square tiles, each of which is by a different artist and a picture on its own. It was unveiled at the Cochrane Ranche House, Cochrane Alberta, last week.

Check out the mural's web page. There you can view the individual pictures by clicking on the mosaic squares. Mr. Lavoie lets us in on some of the secrets of creating such a mural here.

The site links to other mosaic murals as well. Mr. Lavoie is presently working on a new mural called "King of Kings" and is posting his additions to it weekly.

Finally, here's a You-Tube of Mr. Lavoie, creating "The Creation of Adam" (about 2.5 min.).



Thanks to Joyce, who gave me the heads-up on these amazing works of art!