Ryan Smeeton poses in front of his mural under the Laurier Avenue underpass on Colonel By Drive. The piece shows the canal’s history, including its construction and modern use for recreation. Anna Carroll, Centretown NewsLocal artist Ryan Smeeton has brought the history of the Rideau Canal to life in his newly unveiled mural on the Colonel By Drive side of the Laurier Avenue underpass.
As part of the city of Ottawa’s third consecutive instalment of the Murals on Underpasses program, Smeeton is one of three artists chosen to work on murals on either side of the concrete wall.
His work was unveiled in early October, alongside another one created by Cassandra Dickie and Dodo Ose. Their piece is a surrealist, double-exposure-inspired scrawl that tackles the evolution of the canal in a different way.
Smeeton was given complete control of his mural, so long as it was themed around the canal.
“I kind of used an aesthetic that I had done in the past involving using hands and closely cropped figures,” Smeeton said. “I used that to kind of tell a history of the canal.”
His piece is a chronological collage of the structure’s design, operation, and current use as a hub for leisure activities like canoeing and skating. It begins with Col. John By holding a blueprint of the locks, continues with someone cranking the locks open and ends with someone canoeing alongside another lacing up skates.
Smeeton said he used original technical drawings of the canal’s locks found at Library and Archives Canada as references for his painted blueprint and that the figure holding it is Col. By, the British military engineer who led the canal’s construction and gave his name to the 19th-century town that became the city of Ottawa: Bytown.
This was all done with a mix of acrylic latex house paint via miniature foam rollers, brushes, and some minor spray-can work for small details.
Smeeton said graffiti was a concern during the creation of the mural. “When I first started… I came in one day and there was a tag on the wall, so that’s kind of stressful,” he said.
“Once I had actual images on the wall no one touched it at all, so I like to think there’s kind of a respect there –– like if someone’s working on a big piece the majority of graffiti writers won’t go and touch it at all.”
Just in case, he sprayed his finished product with an anti-graffiti coating, ensuring simple and harmless removal of paint if someone tries to vandalize his mural.
The mural can be easily seen by walking over the Laurier Avenue bridge near city hall, and then taking the stairs down to Colonel By Drive.
Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney was invited to the unveiling of the murals on Oct. 6. She said she participated in the event with Mayor Jim Watson, the artists and other councillors.
“It was a wonderful ceremony,” McKenney said via email. “I had the opportunity to celebrate this new and (innovative) public art, meet the artists and learn about their artwork, and recognize the value of the murals on underpasses program in beautifying our city.”
Catherine Lindquist, executive director of the Council of Heritage Organizations in Ottawa, said murals are effective in creating gateways between public spaces and also help discourage vandalism.