Colourful downtown mural debate expected at Oshawa Council meeting Monday

A proposal to remove 14 of the 15 murals in downtown Oshawa by 2029 has dominated the social media chatter in recent days and should be a contentious issue when it gets to the council floor for approval Monday.

The staff report calling for the murals, produced from 1995 to 2001 and all showing the wear and tear of age, to be ‘deaccessioned’ and removed over the next five years was released earlier this month and quickly became a hot topic on Facebook threads, with the early responses almost entirely negative.

Support for giving the downtown’s art scene a freshening up followed, with Oshawa Councillor Derek Giberson, whose ward contains the murals, releasing a 16-minute video showing the conditions of some of the artwork – in one case, a 15-year time lapse comparison – and the need for an update of public art in downtown.

“A quarter century of exposure to the elements has not been good to them,” Giberson said, emphasizing that outdoor murals are “almost universally understood” to be temporary installations. “Anyone telling you that they can just be continually restored needs to talk to some actual professionals in the field of art preservation.”

Veteran councillor Brian Nicholson, who began his career in 1985 and was on council for the commissioning of all but one of the murals, took a different tack and called the cost estimates for the restoration of one of the murals and as much as $22,000 each for the removal of others “absurd.”

“This report was designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to scare the residents of Oshawa into abandoning their murals,” he said on his Facebook page, adding that hundreds of comments supporting his stance and more than 50 emails have been received this week.

Ontario Regiment – 130 years of service (John Hood, 1996) is part of the historically designated McLaughlin Bandshell in Memorial Park and is recommended for preservation

The report, put together by STEPS Public Art, a charitable organization known for its expertise in creating public art installations and developing art strategies, is recommending only the ‘Ontario Regiment – 130 Years of Service’ mural at Memorial Park (identified as an important component of the McLaughlin Bandshell, which has been given a heritage designation) to be maintained and preserved.

City staff sought quotes for preserving the murals, with estimates ranging from $4,200 to $22,000 to remove and dispose of an existing mural and $11,000 to $45,000 to create new art. (The cost to address each mural depends on the size and type of wall, the damage to the existing wall, if the mural is at ground level or not, and if a new mural is being added to the same location.)

All the murals, the report stated, are in varying stages of deterioration and damage and continued restoration of them is “no longer practical.”

Two murals located on city property – the ‘Victorian Order of Nurses 100th Anniversary’ at 47 Bond St. W. and the ‘Camp X’ mural at 100 Simcoe Street – are recommended as sites for new artwork.

Nine of the 15 of murals are located on private property and six are on public lands. The city owns the artwork and is responsible for the cost of repair, insurance, and removal of the murals. Agreements with private property owners and artists executed during the commission period have also all lapsed.

If the report and staff recommendation is approved the murals will be discarded in three phases, with planning and consultation happening next year and two or three murals taken down in 2026. The rest of the work would be completed between 2026 and 2029.

The next steps of the deaccession process includes allocating resources to create new artwork that reflects contemporary Oshawa. One such mural recently unveiled is a striking seven-floor mural – ‘Turning the Wheel’ – at the McMillan Parkade by acclaimed local artist Dani Crosby that commemorates an historic mill that once stood on the site.

Oshawa has been looking into the future of the downtown murals since 2017 when it convened a Public Art Committee to advise on new art projects and priorities and help with decision-making on accepting and deaccessioning public artworks.

“Many public art programs consider murals temporary, with a lifetime of approximately 10 to 20 years,” STEPS said in the report. “This can be challenging for residents to comprehend. Murals are more vulnerable to weather damage, infrastructure changes or evolution in urban planning then other forms of public art since they often cannot be relocated or easily removed. In many cases, the murals in Oshawa’s downtown are nearing the end of their life expectancies.”

STEPS, in collaboration with city staff, made their intentions known to residents through a feedback form (which received 188 responses), an e-newsletter , a roundtable with local artists and ongoing social messaging, as well as a community pop-up at Delpark Homes Centre in July of 2023.

To continue to build appreciation for public artworks staff will research and determine feasibility of other mural related community programming, such as a ‘Wall Festival’ to celebrate the unveiling of the new murals.

The report also noted that conservation and preservation for the murals cannot be applied in a ‘one size fits all’ approach. “With appropriate funds the city can facilitate varied conservations methods with some of the murals. However, some may need to be removed and disposed of entirely due to their advanced state of deterioration and/or the property owner’s desire for it to be removed.”

A mural on Ontario Street – ‘On the Lake (The Argyle)’ by Welland artist Ross Beard, depicting Oshawa’s harbour a century ago – was removed in 2022 at the request of the property owner, who said the artwork was covering an exterior window in the building, causing issues in renting the space as well as with planned future investments.

Oshawa’s Development (Robin Burgesse, 1996)

There are three delegations on Monday’s Council agenda, including one from downtown business owner Louise Parkes and former councillor (2003-2010), who served on the Downtown Action Committee that got the murals installed at the end of the last century.

There are also five items of correspondence to be entered into the public record – each in favour of preserving the artwork, especially a mural at Memorial Park – given a ‘low’ priority ranking in the report for deaccession – created by David Yeatman that depicts legendary racehorse Northern Dancer and Windfield Farms owner E.P. Taylor.

• “I beseech you to retain this mural,” said Donna Carmichael, who called the Yeatman mural “historically important” and an “important reminder of the immense contribution of the Taylor family to the city of Oshawa.”
• “Please save and preserve our Oshawa historical murals especially the Windfields Farms and Northern Dancer mural,” said Deborah Stevenson. “All these murals show Oshawa’s past history and that should never be never forgotten.”

The mural depicting GM’s history in the city on the walls of the former bus terminal, which is scheduled for redevelopment, also had its backers:

• “There are a lot of residents that are absolutely disheartened and disgusted with the possible plans to remove these classic murals,” said Quinton Jones. “These murals pay homage to Oshawa’s rich history of General Motors and the men and women who helped build Oshawa and GM into what it is now. Putting in more modern art will wipe away the historical legacy of classic GM and Oshawa.”

Preserving all of them was also a theme in the correspondence:

• “In no way do I support the removal of any of them,” said Valerie Arnold. “If anything they need to be preserved and maintained, and not destroyed.”
• “These murals are not just decorative pieces; they represent our shared history, culture, and identity as a community,” said Tracy Davidson. “Erasing them would be a significant loss for Oshawa’s heritage and community spirit.”

Be it an art attack, or painting a new picture for downtown Oshawa, Monday’s council meeting should be a colourful meeting.

To read the 141-page report, visit https://pub-oshawa.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=17771

Famous Oshawa Generals (Paul Ygartua, 1997)