Artist creates ‘spirit of sharing’ painting at Bradstock Park bunker in Richmond Hill

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 13, 2023

Splashes of colour are brightening the landscape all over Richmond Hill as part of the city’s 150th anniversary (RH150).

You may have noticed the large, outdoor mural created by Chris Perez at Richmond Green featuring a yellow and orange backdrop, the iconic David Dunlap Observatory and purple roses commemorating the city as the “Rose Capital of Canada.”

Other RH150 community art projects include six Bell Box community murals and six city park storage bunker paintings.

While out walking his dog at Bradstock Park, YorkRegion.com photographer Steve Somerville saw artist Moe Pramanick putting the finishing touches on her storage bunker painting.

Pramanick designed her art piece based on her experiences engaging with her neighbours in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto.

“One of the things I really love is that I’ve made friends with neighbours,” she said. “We’re connected because we live close to each other and see each other often outside, and now we go on bike rides, have coffee together in the morning, share vegetables from each other's gardens or exchange books.

“Those little interactions inspired what I painted and I hope that that spirit of sharing gets across to people.”

On the front, Pramanick painted someone planting a flower, and on the back, someone biking away with a smaller version of that flower or a cutting of the plant.

“I wanted the two of them to be connected by that story of two neighbourhoods sharing and being together with each other and with nature in a world that’s highly digital.”

Pramanick grew up in Markham and spent time in both Richmond Hill and Markham, which helped her reflect on community values.

From a young age, she loved drawing, and after graduating with an engineering degree, decided to pursue art as a freelance artist and illustrator.

Previous projects include designing art for the City of Toronto’s StreetARToronto program, painting a utility box and bike barriers in Scarborough, painting a shipping container for Newmarket Cycles and painting a personal care box (filled with free personal hygiene items) in partnership with the Toronto Public Library.

“I think public art is great because everyone gets to access it and it sort of becomes, like, a permanent fixture of the city that you don't necessarily always notice, but it's always in the background animating the city.”

View Pramanick’s project at Bradstock Park, 194 A Driscoll Rd., Richmond Hill. For more information on RH150 community art projects and their artists, visit RichmondHill.ca/RH150.