Sudbury was our last destination before we really started heading home. As we rolled into town we caught a glimpse of something strangely vibrant in the distance. We had to check it out so we followed the roads in the general direction until the full structure came into view. What the….
What is it?
We circled the building, but couldn’t find any information about it, so we asked our friend Google. The search: “large painted building Sudbury”, was very fruitful.
There is was, splashed all over the internet: Sudbury’s former St. Joseph Hospital — a former eye-sore — is currently Canada’s largest mural.
The Up Here Festival, an urban art and music festival, commissioned the artist RISK to paint the building. Here is an article with some more information about the inception of this mural.
The vibrant colours,
The sheer size of the mural,
and the message of rebirth were all captivation and intriguing.
Watch the mural come to life in this timelapse video.
Stay tuned for another post about Sudbury. We will be hiking some of Sudbury’s Lake Laurentian Conservation trails.
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That was amazing. A huge work of art.
We loved it! Someone was thinking big 🙂
Would be a nice piece for our living room
Haha, feel free to print one of the photos 🙂
Wonderful! Did you all see the Cadillac ranch in Texas with the half buried cars that were covered in graffiti? Eveny building needs a parking lot. A Cadillac ranch style lot would be perfect.
Never heard of it so I googled it. It looks really cool!
Wonderful colours. Definitely hard to miss.
Yeah, it really sticks out! I love the vibrant colours!
So pretty and unusual. Wow. What a project!
It really is unusual!
The mural seems a bit garish for its setting, though I’m not sure what a ‘proper’ setting for it would be. In any case, it is where it is….and my opinion, just personal taste.
Not nearly as garish as an old hospital crumbling away, but as you say, tastes vary. I am sure that the building will go down at one point and a new condo will rise up instead soon enough 🙂
It certainly attracts one’s attention. I like the shot from the distance as it shows how startling it must have been to come across this. I enjoyed watching the process of how the artist made it happen.
We caught even a more distant glimpse and it was really intriguing. I also thought that the process was fascinating!
Stunning! Loved the video and your close-ups.
Thank you! I also thought it was stunning!
This was painted recently, well, after my last visit to Sudbury, I think it’s a good idea that could be applied to other facades.
I agree! There are different spaces that can get a facelift, and incorporating a project like this into an arts festival is such a great idea.
We passed by this on our drive through Sudbury on Thursday (we were headed to the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area) and we were wondering what this was! How neat.
Cool, right? Funny enough our next post is about Lake Laurentian Conservation Area! We really had a twin trip, didn’t we?
That’s too funny!! You know what they say, great minds think alike. I’m looking forward to reading about your visit to Lake Laurentian, it’s such a beautiful conservation area.
Haha, exactly! And yes, we loved this conservation area!
I love a colorful mural, and Sudbury’s is no exception! Even more intriguing that it’s in the middle of nowhere…I suppose that’s what makes it all the more desirable to check out! Thanks for sharing a local, hidden gem. 🙂
Murals are great, and we found this one very unusual on many levels. Thanks for stopping by!
Wow! I have heard of that..
We also said wow when we saw it 🙂