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Regina Métis artist to create 400 paintings for Edmonton bridge
If every picture tells a story, then David Garneau is preparing to tell hundreds of them.
The Regina Métis artist and associate professor of painting and drawing at the University of Regina is already starting to create 400 Indigenous-themed paintings to be installed in a walkway under Edmonton's Tawatinâ Bridge. The bridge serves as an extension to the city's LRT system with a footbridge underneath.
Garneau's submission was chosen from a group of Canadian Indigenous artists to receive the $295,000 commission for the two-year job. His paintings will be installed underneath the LRT tracks, and pedestrians walking on the footbridge portion will be able to look upwards and see it all.
"There'll be 400 separate panels, cut into shapes," Garneau said. "It sounds like a lot — it is a lot. But some of them are very small, as small as eight inches [20 centimetres] across. But others will be up to 14 feet [4.2 m], so they range in size."
Harbin Gate removal triggers traffic disruptions in downtown Edmonton
Traffic flow will be disrupted around downtown for between two to four weeks as construction on the city’s new Valley Line LRT continues.
Starting around Feb. 20, three of four eastbound lanes on 102 Avenue, from 97 Street to 95 Street will be closed as Harbin Gate is removed.
The structure was a gift to the city by Edmonton’s sister-city, Harbin, China in 1987.
Future of Edmonton's Harbin Gate uncertain
Some members of Edmonton’s Chinese community have doubts about the future of the Harbin Gate.
The gate, which marks the entrance to Chinatown at 102 Avenue and 97 Street, will be removed in the coming weeks to make way for the Valley Line LRT.
A plan is in place to carefully remove the gate and resurrect it at another location in the future, but Chinese Benevolent Association chair Michael Lee is not entirely confident that will happen.
“The contractor seems to think that it can be done. But we realize for masonry work like that, having to take it apart sometimes you lose pieces that cannot be replaced, and you cannot get matching pieces to put back on,” Lee said.
“We are cautiously optimistic, but not totally convinced that it will definitely be accomplished. We just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that what they promised will come in without complications.”
Gateway to Edmonton’s Chinatown being moved to make room for Valley Line LRT
Situated at the intersection of 102 Avenue and 97 Street, the Harbin Gate has been a part of downtown Edmonton for the past three decades.
Work is slated to begin this week on moving the ornate structure to a city storage facility, to make room for construction on the Valley Line LRT. As for what happens to it after that, the matter remains shrouded in uncertainty.
“If we can determine a future site, then we have to determine the engineering aspect of it,” said Michael Lee, board chairman for the Chinese Benevolent Association of Edmonton (CBAE).
Lee was there when the gate was unveiled years ago and again today. He is part of a group that will decide its fate. The CBAE has been working closely with the city on the matter.
“There’s still a long ways to go before we can say for sure what kind of new gate we can have, but we are sure that a new gate will come up again,” he said Sunday.
The materials for the gate were a gift from Edmonton’s sister city Harbin, China.