Variety Village Community Mural

Mural Routes and Variety Village partnered with Jakarundi Graphics to produce the Variety Village Community Mural Project, a large-scale community-engaged mural project.

Jakarundi Graphics was selected through a Call for Artists. Jakarundi Graphics is an arts collective and visual arts studio based in Toronto. Skill-sharing, collaboration and community engagement are central to their collective art practice. The studio and its projects are always open to collaborators and mentees. The collective especially enjoys teaching accessible design and printing methods to people or groups who may not consider themselves artists.

Jakarundi Graphics makes art that always has a political or social end, beyond “art for art’s sake”. They value community arts partnerships as an important way of bringing art into everyday life, using art as a tool for education and mobilization, and propagating visual art as a platform for raising awareness on social and political issues. Jakarundi’s favourite mediums are illustration, printmaking and public art. They love making murals and political posters!

This project encompasses two large walls, as well as three long walls that are a mix of concrete and metal flashing, for a total of 10,000 sq. ft. (approx..)

Community members at large were invited to be part of this mural project. They were able to participate in:

An Intro to Mural Art program
Three stenciling workshops
Community consultation event where three designs were presented by the artists for community input and feedback.
Community Paint Day – families and emerging artists were invited to leave their mark on the mural by transferring stencil designs onto the walls.

This mural project was produced in partnership with StreetARToronto, a program of the City of Toronto.