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It’s been a very busy summer for the Botwood Mural Arts Society with the unveiling of four new murals, bringing its total to 17.

The 85th anniversary of Botwood’s Flying Boat Era and the 80th anniversary of the crash of American Export Airlines flying boat Excalibur are being celebrated this year and the newest works highlight that history.

A new ‘anamorphic’ mural was painted by Winnipeg artist Charlie Johnston on Botwood’s Flying Boat Museum. It highlights the history and luxury of the giant airplanes known as flying boats. 

Earlier this summer the society unveiled works celebrating the local war brides and World Oceans Day.

“All of our murals tell some particular piece of history from our town and area and are often connected to provincial history,” said society spokesperson Trudy Stuckless.

“We usually do calls for proposals for artists, but in this case, Charlie is known to be able to paint on very challenging surfaces, like the one that reflects the history of the railway. It’s a 9,000-foot piece on corrugated glass and metal on the old paper shed,” she added. 

“We wanted this one done on the Flying Boat Museum which is a heavily-ribbed, undulating surface and difficult to paint so that the piece isn’t distorted.”

“He did an anamorphic painting which means that when you look at it from a different perspective it’s all distorted, but when you look at it from the perspective it’s meant to be seen from, you see the perfect image,” she explained, adding this is the sixth piece that Johnston has completed for the group.

That project was funded by a Come Home Year 2022 grant of $30,000.

  Special techniques A new ‘Trompe L’oiel’ (trick of the eye) mural was painted by German artist Steffen Junemann on Botwood’s Heritage Centre.

“It tells the story of the crash of American Export Airlines flying boat Excalibur, highlighting the heroic efforts of air hostess Adele Jenkins, who was on board the Excalibur when it crashed in Botwood Harbour in October 1942,” said Stuckless. 

“Despite her petite size, Adele dove into the dark, frigid waters in the sinking plane six times and single-handedly saved the lives of five men who would have otherwise perished; almost losing her own life in the effort.

“Steffen is a world renown master of this painting technique which creates an optical illusion that makes the mural appear three-dimensional,” noted Stuckless. 

“It is truly amazing. He painted the mural in his studio in Germany and then shipped it to Botwood where he ‘married’ it to the wall using special adhesive techniques. He then painted the finishing touches. His process in Botwood took two weeks. Tourists and local residents were blown away as they watched this mural unfold,” she said.

The whole mural appears to be a stone monument with a sculpture in the middle.

“It’s the first of its kind in (this province) and, as far as I know, the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada,” said Stuckless.

“This mural will serve as a memorial to this courageous woman as well as the 11 passengers who died in the crash, several of whom were American soldiers/officers serving in World War Two,” Stuckless added.

The two new murals were financially supported by the province through its Come Home Year 2022 funding and its Cultural Economic Development Program as well as by financial and in-kind support from the Town of Botwood and Botwood Heritage.

“It takes a whole community to create a mural and we are extremely grateful to all our local residents who support our fundraising efforts and who support our artists by providing them with accommodations, meals and transportation, and who come by their mural walls every day to cheer them on,” Stuckless said. 

“Next summer we plan to hold our Street Art Festival La RUE again which brings together a blend of young urban and rural street artists and musicians to breathe new life into the old industrial building known as the Machine Shop on Military Road near Botwood’s sports fields, arena and the Boys and Girls Club.”

Botwood Mural Arts Society is also partnering with the Town of Botwood, Botwood Heritage, Miawpukek First Nation and Botwood Trinity United Church on, “a very special Beothuk project which is due to be announced later this fall,” she said.

For budding young Botwood artist Tiffany Lyver, helping create one of the town’s historical murals offered both a creative outlet and a connection to her hometown’s heritage.

She graduated Botwood Collegiate in 2017 and the interest in art she developed through her school and community catapulted her into fine art studies. She recently graduated with a fine arts degree from Grenfell College and a minor in art history.

“I think Botwood has always been a community that has fostered and promoted art,” she said. “If you’ve ever been inside the schools in town, in the elementary school we painted a brick when we graduated, and in Botwood Collegiate there’s mural on every wall that students have done. I painted a few of those before I left.”

Her love of arts was developing as she progressed through high school.

“I loved the fine arts program,” she said, pointing out her high school art teacher painted one of the first of the town’s 17 murals. 

“I’d love to paint a mural of my own some day,” she added.

Lyver welcomed the opportunity to learn about the anamorphic technique employed by Charlie Johnston, a Winnipeg artist who has now contributed to six of the town’s murals.

“I think I learned a lot in a short time. It was very nice of him to let me help out. He was very knowledgeable about the mural painting techniques,” said Lyver.

“He’s been at this for a very long time and he was telling me about when he used to paint billboards by hand before they started printing them, so he certainly knows what he’s doing. (School) taught us a lot of theoretical stuff about art but it’s nice to get hands-on practical experience, too.”

She believes the mural project helps preserve history, both for locals and visitors.

“They are certainly informative,” she said of the 17 murals strategically placed throughout town. “A lot of them are based on history. The history of Newfoundland we get taught a lot about in school, but not a lot on our town. It’s dying out as people get older and the stories don’t get told so it’s nice to have them preserved on the walls,” she continued. 

“The hospital and the railway (murals) prompt people to continue telling stories. Every time we drive past the railway one, my dad tells me about how he used to go and put pennies on the track and watch them get squished by the trains. I never knew that before.”

Lyver considers the murals a “great way for locals to exchange historical information” and for her it’s a point of pride to use art to reflect history. 

“It makes it interesting,” she said. “Reading a book is just facts but seeing a picture of it makes it easier to absorb.”

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