The City of Hamilton and the Downtown BIA are bringing Barton Village back to its former glory through local art installations.
Hamilton is well known as a steel town. Back in the industrial days, most steel factories were located around Barton St. and as such it was quite a popular district. However, once factories started closing, many stores also followed and people began moving out of the neighbourhood and it became a street people avoided.
Barton St. is currently going through a transition period where various projects and initiatives are changing tides and bringing the street back to what it once was. Among these projects, the City of Hamilton and the Downtown Hamilton BIA team launched an art project between Ferguson Ave. and Sherman Ave. in Barton Village.
The art project features installations from 15 local artists in vacant storefronts along the street. Artists were selected based on how well they represent the artistic side of Hamilton using the people, places and history of Barton St.
Currently the project features works from a variety of artists. Kayla Whitney, an artist and muralist who created a piece titled “Alive and Well” to highlight the legacy of Barton St. amidst its rough history. Allison + Cam, an illustration duo who aimed to portray their vision of Barton Street’s bright future through their art installation titled “Ring Out, Barton!”.
David Trautimas, a multimedia artist who drew a large-scale Aloe Vera plant titled “Occupational Salve” to mirror Barton Street’s history and future as the plant is dependent on periods of rest and successive active growth. Edgardo Moreno, a composer and sound designer who filmed a video about the attempted revitalizations of Barton St. titled “A Fragile Balance.”
Kyle Stewart, a visual artist highlights the theme of “Anything is possible on Barton” through his work titled “Sunnyside of the Street” which emphasizes the strong community in Barton Village. Gram + Laura, who are independent artists that collaborated to produce an art installation titled “Barton Bright/Barton Night” which aims to convey its quirky and vibrant night life as opposed to a street that should be avoided at night.
Sunny Singh, an illustrator and cartoonist depicted a hazy memory (the past) or a dream (the future) in his piece “A Place to Play” to provide a sense of community and playfulness. Quinn Rockliff, an interdisciplinary artist who portrayed the unexpected everyday moments of tenderness and care that he encountered in Barton Village through his piece titled “Round Corners.” Chris Perez, an artist who created abstracted images using mundane objects in his mural titled “Everywhere you Enjoy.”
Jordan Gorle, an artist and blacksmith who honoured Hamilton’s industrial heritage through his piece “steel IS art”, which brings steel back to Barton Village. Julianna Biernacki and Dayna Gedney (Hamilton Craft Studios), an artist duo who created a collaborative tufted rug installation representing Barton Village’s communal spaces changing over time.
Sonny Bean, an illustrator who took pictures that highlight the past, present and future of Barton Village through his work titled “Intersect” which features a tiger, gardens, ladders that read for the stars and transformation. Andrew O'Connor, a multidisciplinary artist and designed who compiled Barton Street’s evolution from its celebrated industrial past to its hopeful future through his work titled “Our will to build and rebuild.”
Par Nair, an interdisciplinary artist who wrote letters on silk sarees using hand embroidery to the “mother” in her piece titled “Letters of haunting” to represent the mute history of Barton Village. Anthony Haley, a visual artist who combined the revival and what is yet to come for Barton Street in his art installation titled “None of them knew they were Robots”.
The team behind the Barton St. revitalization project hopes these pop-up window installations will help share the story of this community and foster a sense that it is a place that values art and culture.
“We have a nice collection of small, independent businesses and we hope to grow that. We hope that your experience on Barton is much different than any of the other main strips in Hamilton,” said Jessica Myers, the Executive Director of the Barton Village Business Improvement Area.
During the revitalization of Barton St., the team also wants to make sure they maintain the neighbourhood’s essence it had back in the day in Hamilton.
“[Barton Village] has a grittiness that people do enjoy, kind of [like it] hasn't been scrubbed clean just yet . . . people like that original Hamilton vibe that's a bit lost in other neighbourhoods right now . . . and it’s what we want to maintain,” said Myers.
“[Barton Village] has a grittiness that people do enjoy, kind of [like it] hasn't been scrubbed clean just yet . . . people like that original Hamilton vibe that's a bit lost in other neighbourhoods right now . . . and it’s what we want to maintain."
Jessica Myers, Executive Director of Barton Village Business Improvement Area
Moving forward, the City of Hamilton and Downtown BIA teams hope to attract more investors to continue funding projects aimed at creating a visually appealing streetscape for Barton’s businesses and residents.
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For local artist Kyle Joedicke, murals are an opportunity to honour his Indigenous roots and share stories with the Hamilton community
By: Edwin Thomas, Contributor
As students, many of us are familiar with the difficult dialogue that is often involved in learning, particularly in conversations about Indigenous justice and reconciliation. However, most of us might not be aware of the importance of art in fostering these conversations. Art is powerful. It can raise awareness and provoke thoughts and dialogue while also helping us to give voice to experiences and stories that are otherwise difficult to communicate.
For local artist Kyle Joedicke, his murals are a way to honour his Indigenous roots and share Indigenous art, culture and stories with the Hamilton community. Joedicke is Cayuga Turtle Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River and grew up between the Six Nations reserve and Caledonia on the border of Hamilton. Although he describes himself as being not very connected to his Indigenous identity during his adolescent years, he began rediscovering his Indigenous roots in his twenties.
Joedicke uses his art to find his voice as an Indigenous person. His work has helped him become closer with the Indigenous community as well, which in turn teaches him more about the culture. For Joedicke, the relationship he has developed with his Indigenous community is a gift.
“I’m speechless in a lot of ways about the gifts that I have been given recently,” explained Joedicke.
His first mural was of an orca commissioned by Merk Snack Bar in 2020, dedicated to his late grandmother. He soon realized the spaces he was creating Indigenous art for could be used to support urban Indigenous communities and provide opportunities for conversation between both Indigenous and non-Indigenous folks.
Joedicke’s murals are woodland style and inspired by the style’s creator, Norval Morrisseau.
“His ability to paint these oral stories in such a visually captivating way is remarkable,” explained Joedicke.
Similar to Morrisseau’s depictions of traditional stories, Joedicke recently created a mural depicting The Seven Grandfather Teachings, which is an oral teaching and tradition centered on the Indigenous way of life.
Joedicke also uses his art to explore intergenerational trauma among Indigenous communities.
“I think being Indigenous means being resilient in a lot of ways. From the inception of the colony of Canada, it’s been the goal to have us not exist, to put it in blunt terms. To be an Indigenous person in 2021 is to be living proof of an entire civilization’s will to live,” said Joedicke.
The discovery of the unmarked graves of Indigenous children at residential schools over the past few months has shocked the nation and impacted Indigenous individuals and communities in complex ways. This extends to Joedicke, whose grandparents were survivors of the residential school system.
Recently, Joedicke has been working on a mural in the memory of children who died while attending residential schools. The mural is located at St. Matthew's House.
He found the experience of creating the mural at St. Matthew’s House cathartic and an opportunity for reflection.
“While I was working on the mural, it gave me a lot of time to reflect on the fact that it isn’t specific to me. It is an issue that has affected thousands and thousands of families. It also gives you a sense of the community because of the outpouring [of] support from the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities,” explained Joedicke.
Art can be an important catalyst for conversation and change and Joedicke has felt that the important role art plays in social progress in creating his artwork.
“It was impossible not to feel the added weight behind the art because, at that point, when you are trying to convey the particular images and ideas, it is too emotional to not be present for it,” explained Joedicke.
Joedicke was recently featured on CBC and has recently been commissioned across the city to continue his work, including a future project with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.
“I want people to be able to come to see this art and feel that they are welcomed and included. It’s something they can be a part of and interact with,” said Joedicke.
Youth, representing the future generations of our society, are pivotal to social progress and change and embody people’s growing openness to learn. Joedicke encourages students from McMaster University to learn more about Indigenous culture as much as they can.
“It’s never wrong to ask questions. Education is important, especially in terms of understanding different cultures. Look into the teachings; [they] can be applied to your own life without being associated with a particular religion or culture. The stories are one of the major things that help us learn in life,” said Joedicke.
