A lone pump-jack reaches to the sky, a flock of geese heads south for winter, and iconic Kindersley buildings outline their shapes across a vibrant sunset, glowing with summer hues. The Town of Kindersley’s office now proudly displays the creative work of a local artist—Chelsea Zacharias.
After earning provincial recognition in July 2017 with a breath-taking Canada 150 piece of artwork, Zacharias was approached by the Town of Kindersley to create a mural depicting the spirit of Kindersley.
“I was a little surprised, but glad to take on the challenge.” The budding artist was given loose guidelines for the mural, giving her a wide range for creative thought and expression. “From there I basically drove around Kindersley snapping photos and creating sketches.”
Throughout the rest of 2017, Zacharias painstakingly drew sketch after sketch of various icons in the Kindersley area—several different churches, the two water towers, oil pump-jacks, a grain elevator, and the landscape surrounding the town.
Once she was satisfied with the results, she began putting the sketches together as a mural with pen and ink. “I had the idea to add a few extra icons that gave a Saskatchewan-feel, like the provincial lily, heads of grain and grain cars.”
Zacharias also worked into the design a cluster of photo gaps, where the Town could select a variety of photos to add to the mural. Photos of Kindersley’s past, long past and present now tease the eye, photos like the Addison Sod House, the Motherwell Dam, and Main Street before 1920.
Colour came next in the mural as colored pencils breathed life into the outline and mineral spirits blended the completed project together. Zacharias said the mineral spirits was something she likes to experiment with, and this mural turned out to be an excellent one. “I ended up only making one copy of the color, just carefully developing it as I went along.
Zacharias submitted the project to the Town in April, and the project was installed in early August. Despite the length of time the project took, Zacharias says the effort was worth it. “I’m happy how it turned out, and I enjoyed the challenge of catching the spirit of Kindersley through art.”
Zacharias will be taking her talent further afield this next year as she will be attending the University of Saskatchewan starting this fall.
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