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460 Assiniboine Park Drive (2)
This wall in the old monkey enclosure at the Zoo was rendered by Mandy van Leeuwen in 2000 with sponsorship by Take Pride Winnipeg. It was lost in 2014 when the zoo grounds and structures underwent massive renovation.
Original notes follow:
"This Mural wasn't as much of an actual commission, but was closer to a volunteer
thing," says Mandy, who doesn't include it in her art portfolio. "It took place over six
weeks of the summer, one or 2 days a week. A group of maybe 12 kids at a time, we'd
go in there. The kids basically did what they wanted. They wanted to be a part of the
Mural and paint it so I did my best to show them what you do and gave them a bit of
freedom to contribute some ideas of their own. So the kids had the experience with it and
got out of it what they wanted. The only problem was that with this approach is that you
don't achieve realism in the piece and that's what the zoo wanted. It was very childlike
and the people at the zoo weren't completely happy with that. So I did what I could in
the free time I had to clean it up. It looks somewhat better now."
"I enjoyed it very much. It was a very different experience being in there and walking
and having the monkeys grab your feet. And at the end of the year there was a lot to do
and we got busy, and completely forgot about the scaffolding, which got left there for the
winter. The monkeys loved it, though. And when it was rediscovered and picked up the
following spring by the Take Pride field crew, it was absolutely covered in monkey poo!"
Needless to say, she's received some teasing over that!
For information on the Assiniboine Park Zoo, visit https://www.assiniboinepark.ca/zoo/home/
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