Local artists and the area businesses that support them were all smiles last Thursday as the Faces of Lloydminster started to be unveiled at Synergy Credit Union. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
After roughly two years, Mick Classen’s Faces of Lloydminster project is finally coming to life thanks to some help from local artists, the business community, as well as schools.
Classen came up with the idea to have painted “faces” throughout the Border City and completed the first mold in June 2021.
He wasn’t sure what the plan for the first face was, but after getting local artists such as Michelle Lake on board, the plan started to snowball.
“It was actually Michelle and her husband who gave us the idea to somewhat replicate what they did in Calgary with the cows,” said Classen last June.
“They had 72 cows, all painted by different artists, and I thought something like that would be a cool idea for us here.”
Last Thursday was an exciting day for Classen and members of the Faces of Lloydminster team as they officially unveiled the first face at Synergy Credit Union, which was painted by local artist Kurtis Pahtayken inside the bank.
“It’s a big, big community project that’s been a ton of fun doing,” said Classen, explaining a total of 14 faces will be placed in their permanent homes throughout Lloyd this June. “There’s 14 for sure, but my gut feeling tells me there’s going to be 17.”
Permanent locations for the faces include Musgrave Agencies, Synergy Credit Union, Gold Horse Casino, Residents in Recovery, Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre, Holy Rosary High School, St. Joseph’s Elementary School, Mother Teresa Early Childhood Education Centre, Father Gorman Elementary School, St. Mary’s Elementary School, École St. Thomas, College Park School, Avery School and Lakeland College.
When Classen first started working on this community-based outdoor sculpture project he wasn’t sure what the end goal was, but quickly found there was more interest in the project than originally expected.
“We put it on the artists’ Facebook group and in six weeks we had 27 people signed up for it. We had lots of enthusiasm from the artist community, but didn’t know where to go from there,” he said, explaining each face measures 6’ x 4’ x 2’ and weighs 300 lbs.
“We proposed the project to the City but that didn’t work out, and I got tired of waiting, so I approached some businesses such as Musgrave Agencies, Synergy, Gold Horse Casino, MNP and the Lloydminster and District Co-op.
“So, we had funding, now we needed a place to build them as well as put them. That’s when Tyler from Residents in Recovery and our local schools came into the picture.”
Corporate funding sponsors for the project included the above, as well as Lakeland College and the Lloydminster public and Lloydminster Catholic School Divisions.
Residents in Recovery’s executive director, Tyler Lorenz, stepped up to ensure there was a place to mold the faces, as well as a set of hands to help in the building process.
Originally from Lethbridge, Pierce Manyfingers got the unique opportunity to build the faces being painted for the project, a process he took great pride in.
“I’m a person in recovery, so this has been a good part of that social element we need to reintegrate and have those pieces to get back our lives,” he said.
“I think what’s great about this project is, there’s many elements and moving parts to it, and everyone who’s involved has something to give, and something to get out of it. I’m grateful to be part of this whole process.”
Once constructed, the 300lb faces were painted in locations including the LloydMall, Synergy Credit Union, Gold Horse Casino, and Residents in Recovery.
Pahtayken’s face was in the spotlight last Thursday as he explained he was actually attending Lakeland College when approached about painting a face.
“I’ve been painting since I was five and kept it as a hobby,” he said.
“When I was in school I was approached to paint one of these faces, so this here is my first.
“There’s possibly two others I might be painting, one is for Lakeland College, the other is for St. Joseph Elementary School. The one here today is staying at Synergy Credit Union.”
Lake, who has completed two faces so far with talks of a third, was equally excited to talk about her involvement in the project.
“One is going to Mother Teresa school,” she said.
“I’ve painted for them a couple of times and done an outdoor and an indoor mural that hangs in their school.
“I spoke to the principal at Mother Teresa and she told me she’d like Noah’s Arch (on the face). They have an outdoor classroom there, and this will be part of teaching outside.”
Aside from Lake and Pahtayken, local artists include Brandi Hofer, Mario Sevigny, Nelson Stone, and Harwell Teves, as well as 30 students from College Park School.
“Right now we have 30 students working on one face, which is actually a real challenge, but we’ve worked it out and it’s looking fabulous,” said Hofer, who is also the founder of the LPSD’s Art Academy at College Park.
“We’re finishing it today in Art Academy and it’s such a beautiful thing because it’s going to be on the grounds of College Park. Students can interact with it themselves and get to witness other students interacting with the art piece they created … that’s positively reinforcing how powerful their creative gift is, and how powerful art is in our community.”
Hofer is no stranger to public art and explained “It can transform any space into a thriving public destination. It has the power to revitalize community spaces, and we’re witnessing the seed of that growing here in Lloydminster. I think it will transform parts of our city that just need a little boost in revitalization.”
Sevigny painted the face on display at Musgrave Agencies and explained he focused on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border as inspiration.
“In the centre of the face I put an orange line, which is the (border marker), on the right side is Saskatchewan and on the left was Alberta,” he said.
“The painting also represents what Musgrave does, too. They’re everywhere, and we wanted to incorporate both provinces … so one side is agricultural and the other is mostly the oil field.”
Synergy’s branch manager, Gord Thiel, explained he’s been a part of this project since the beginning and how seeing it come to fruition has been an amazing experience.
“Mick first came to me in November 2021 with this idea and we’ve been working back and forth on it and coming up with ideas ever since,” he said.
“We wanted to see if we could financially support it as well as provide a location for some of the artists to do their work. I’m really happy to see how it’s coming together.”
The hope is for faces to be on display in their permanent locations by May or June of this year.
