New mural in "Art Alley" in time for this weekend's Art Crawl

Michigan artist Kevin Burdick works on a mural in "Art Alley," along the south side of the Downtown Espresso building.

The Amherstburg Art Crawl returns July 11-12 and an artist from Michigan will once again have his work featured.

Kevin Burdick was in Amherstburg recently and painted “The Stories We Tell” on the side of Downtown Espresso. That is directly across from the mural “Art is the Answer” in what is known as “Art Alley” in the downtown core.

Much of the design of the new mural is about the passing down of stories, with Burdick thinking of fishing stories passed down from older generations. He included references to the sturgeon, which he said is increasing in numbers.

Burdick lives 20 minutes south of Flint, Michigan and arrived in Amherstburg June 23. He painted for approximately four hours that day, another eight hours June 24 and finished up June 25.

The pebbled texture of the wall on the south side of the Downtown Espresso building was some of the toughest he has encountered, but Burdick was pleased with the overall product.

“I’m happy to be back,” he said, noting it was his third trip to Amherstburg. “I brought my wife Brittany. We both just loved it here.”

Other artists in the Amherstburg area are receptive and welcoming, Burdick added, as graffiti artists in some other areas are not as open to having others come in and create art.

“The local artists are really supportive,” he said.

The process to create the new mural went very smoothly, Burdick added, and he seemed pleased with the final product.

Burdick added he may not be able to attend the unveiling of the mural due to another commitment that weekend, but does hope to return to Amherstburg for another project at some point in the future.

“It’s in the works,” he said.

Burdick’s mural will be among the unveilings that take place this Saturday (July 11) with unveilings being at noon and another a 2 p.m. Other components include “unleashed” art locations from 11 a.m.-4 p.m, the announcement of kids and teens art contest winners at 12:30 p.m., local authors along Richmond St. Saturday, a “junior art crawl” in Art Alley from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday, plein air art both days, the town crier in Art Alley at 1 p.m. and the WSO Brass Quintet closing things out in King’s Navy Yard Park Sunday at 3 p.m. 

For more information on the Amherstburg Art Crawl, please visit www.artamherstburg.ca. 

New mural in "Art Alley" in time for this weekend's Art Crawl

By Ron Giofu