An art project on Walpole Island, which is set to be showcased in Windsor, during the construction of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge, is making some massive progress.
Walpole Island resident Paul White told the Sydenham Current last week that Teresa Altiman’s bald eagle design is completed and has been shipped to Windsor.
White added they were set to wrap-up Altiman’s second design, of a bear and its cubs, by the end of the week on the Walpole Island Sports Complex arena floor, before shipping it off to Windsor as well.
Both pieces of art are 36 feet wide and 26 feet high.
Here are some more photos of Altiman working on some of the finishing touches of the bear painting:
White told the Sydenham Current last month that he was approached by representatives from the Gordie Howe International Bridge in late June of this year.
White then put a team together, which included artists, volunteers and some of the construction crew from his own business.
“The whole thing is massive in size,” White said.
The Walpole Island team came up with the design and the bridge committee interpreted the design and enlarged it, in order for the Walpole crew to paint the bigger image on a series of panels, White said.
There are two concrete columns that suspend the bridge being built in Windsor, he added. This is where the art will be displayed for approximately two years, while the rest of the bridge is being completed.
White said there are about 16 people involved in the art project, all from Walpole Island, except for one person, Naomi Peters from Caldwell First Nation, near Leamington.
Two more smaller pieces of art are set to be completed by the Walpole Island team.
One of the pieces was designed by Peters, 24, and the other remaining piece by Daisy White, 17, from Walpole Island.
White said these two pieces will be worked on in the Walpole Island Sports Complex hall, as arena staff were preparing to install ice on the arena floor for the upcoming season.
