Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 10/98) - For the past three years during the Festival of the Midnight Sun, Yellowknifers have seen her working on making the walls of the Canadian Tire building a lot more colorful.

But local artist Dawn Oman says this year will be the last year for the murals -- because the walls will now be fully painted.

She says she was approached by the organizers of the festival to do the first paintings, with the requirement that the theme be Northern in some way.

"The first year, I went to the managers of the Canadian Tire store and showed them my portfolio and asked them to choose what they wanted," Oman says. "The second year, I went to see them again and they told me to do what I wanted."

"This year, I didn't show them what I wanted to do until the day before I started."

This year, Oman designed her new murals in a way which would tie the previous murals together in some way. She also says that she tried to add a decidedly political overtone to this year's addition.

"I used the inukshuk to link together the murals," she says. "There are references to the east and the west, and I wanted to show that while division is coming, we will still be connected."

The process for Oman involves two steps: drawing the work on a piece of paper divided into blocks and then transferring that design onto the wall, which has been divided into two-feet by two- feet squares. Volunteers then paint in the work.

Oman says the best part of the work is the support and positive feedback she has received while completing the work.

"People walk by and they say they love the murals and they are really glad to see me out here again. They even ask me about where I get my paint."

"I tell them I get it (at Canadian Tire). When they go in and try to get the same color, they don't realize there has to be some mixing done to get the actual color."

And the attention Oman has been receiving has not only been limited to community residents.

"I had one lady stop by this weekend who took a picture of me in front every panel," Oman says. "She's an architect in Italy and she couldn't wait to return home and show people this work."

"When I told her that all the work was done by volunteers, she said people in Italy would never believe it."