19 juillet 2014 – Telegraph Journal ALEX COLVILLE’S ICONIC ATHLETES MURAL AT RISK AT MOUNT A

MIKE LANDRY TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

SaCKVIllE • When the hammer dropped in 2010 on Alex Colville’s 1953 tempera painting Man on Verandah, the bid had risen to $1.1 million. At the time, it marked the highest auction result ever recorded for a living Canadian painter. The Atlantic Canadian painter died on July 16, 2013, but the rising value of his work is forcing his alma mater to troubleshoot the future of one of his most unique works. Colville’s Athletes, a three-part mural, has hung in the Athletic Centre, in Sackville, since 1961. The work depicts a swimmer on a starting block, a high-jumper in mid-flight and a runner crossing a finish line. Colville began his career in Sackville, attending and then teaching at Mount Allison University. Athletes was commissioned specifically for the new centre. It was his second commission for the university, his first coming in 1948, The History of Mount Allison, which remains in Tweedie Hall. However, the athletic centre has proven to be a harsh environment for the oil-painted mural, which is about 1½ metres tall and three metres wide. Although housed behind Plexiglas,the mural doesn’t receive the same care as the 40-some Colville paintings and silkscreens housed by the National Gallery of Canada. The athletic centre features fluctuations in humidity due to its swimming pool, and the moisture has affected the mural. The damage was discovered recently after the mural was taken down at the end of May to prepare the work for loan to the . The mural is to be included in the show, Alex Col-ville, the largest exhibition of his work ever assembled, which opens Aug. 23 in . Jane Tisdale, fine art conservator at Owens Art Gallery at Mount Allison University, is working to repair the mural. She says the athletic centre is one of the worst environments for a painting. Colville’s mural is particularly sensitive to humidity fluctuation, Tisdale says, because the paint is quite thin. The moisture has caused tiny bubbles to appear on the surface of the painting. Although unnoticeable to the average eye, the plan is to remediate the defects before the mural is shipped to Toronto in early August. Tisdale will painstakingly relax the bubbles by heating and then flattening them. Tisdale says the damage is not normal to Colville’s work. “Definitely, the environment had an impact on this work”said Tisdale. The mural will be on loan for at least two years,and Gemey Kelly,director and curator of Owens Art Gallery, says a plan for the future of the mural will be made during that time. Although Kelly says one option will be whether to reinstall the work back at the athletics centre – the “clear and logical place” is the centre, for which the piece was specifically created. “It’s just a matter of whether we can make that happen”said Kelly. Kelly notes that the work is “an important community work,” since its location in the athletic centre means the wider student body and residents of Sackville get to see it.“If you’re on your way to check out a badminton racket or go swimming, you’re not necessarily expecting that you’re going to see a work of art by major Canadian artist,”said Kelly.“When the decision was made to commission a mural for athletic centre, that was a wonderful thought.” It’s because of that public presence that Andrew Hunter,Fredrik S.Eaton curator, Canadian art, at the Art Gallery of Ontario is including the mural in the coming exhibition. “Athletes has a remarkable presence on campus,”Hunter writes via email.“It is a work of great significance, and is an anchor to a section of our exhibition dealing Colville’s everyday presence.” The mural will be accompanied by a selection of star athletes from Mount Allison’s history. Athletes is an important work, not only in Colville’s oeuvre,but in the canon of 20th century art, as it posits in the re-emergence of fine art mural making spurred by masters such as Diego Rivera. Colville crafted the entire environment for Athletes,including in his drawings the planter box that originally sat under the mural. The last time the work was on loan was in 1983 for a major retrospective of Col-ville’s work, which travelled to six galleries across Canada and to . Kelly says there are a number of possible engineering solutions available to conservators to create stable environments. She and Tisdale, along with the director of the athletic centre and university administration, will see what options are possible. “I would say, in the very least, if it goes back (to the centre), it would go back with changes to the environment in place,”said Kelly.

Significant damage was discovered after removing alex Colville’s iconic athletes mural from mount allison University athletic Centre to prepare the work for loan to the art Gallery of Ontario. Owens art Gallery conservationist Jane Tisdale works on the damaged Colville mural. PHOTO: GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT