The Chestermere Public Library is showing community solidarity with window paintings of images that represent hope and resilience.
The window paintings were a team effort, as the Chestermere Public Library Acting Director Burness chose the images, and Jodi Graham painted them.
“I had chosen two pictures that I really wanted to be done. Jodi is incredibly talented, and I knew she could replicate those, and so she put her own kind of flare on it,” Burness said.
“I was looking for something that was symbolic. Although that bird is not really a phoenix, it reminded me of a phoenix coming out of the ashes,” she said.
Adding, “The caption underneath the one I found said it was a Greek symbol for rising above or having strength and that resonated with me because of what we’re all going through right now.”
Burness and Graham decided on the line drawings because they wanted the paintings to be as visible from the outside as much as possible despite the tinted windows.
Burness also added colour to the tree painting in hopes that it would make it more visible from the outside.
Painting the windows was nothing out of the ordinary for the Chestermere Public Library, as images would be painted on the windows for past events such as Belle’s Tea of Harry Potter Book Night.
“We do use our windows as canvases quite frequently,” Burness said.
Moving forward, the team at the Chestermere Public Library is continuing the work to bring resources and services to residents online.
“We’re trying everything we know how to do, learning new things, doing research, and trying to figure out how to best serve in these troubling and restrictive times,” Burness said.
“We’re not just putting in time here, we’re trying to figure out how to make a difference from behind closed doors,” she said.
