DIDSBURY - A resident is hoping to turn one of the alleys in downtown Didsbury into an "art alley."
Beverly Devolin Zwart is hoping community members will come together to work on a project that will see a tree with roots and branches mounted on a wall in the alley behind the post office.
Devolin Zwart, who is this year's Mountain View Arts Festival chair, is planning to get the project started at the festival, which takes place Sept. 7 and 8 in Didsbury.
"My vision for the art alley is that the festival will do a community collaborative art piece every year," said Devolin Zwart. "It'll be done by the community for the community. We're still looking at which building to use. It'll be behind the post office in Didsbury. Every year we will do one and put it up in that alley until we have an art alley."
Devolin Zwart said the project is about bringing members of the community together for art.
"It's to unify the community and bring people together," she said. "During the festival, in the parking lot of the train station, there will be pieces (of wood) cut out and it will be all the leaves of the tree. People can make the leaves any way they want to."
Devolin Zwart is doing the roots, trunk and branches herself all in the same colour.
"That'll be mounted on to a backboard," she said. "Then the backboard gets put up, then the roots get put up, then the leaves get put up. After the festival, the piece will be installed."
She appeared in front of Didsbury town council at a recent meeting to go over the plans for the art alley.
"They were so great," she said. "They were super supportive. Anything that brings the community together they are all over it. They were very receptive to it and really looking forward to seeing what it's going to be."
Devolin Zwart said they are not asking for any money from the town for the project.
"If I can do something self-sufficiently I would prefer that," she said. "If we could get grants and do that we'll go that route."
Devolin Zwart said that having art on the backs and sides of buildings and in alleys can really improve the aesthetics of an area.
"To me the backs of buildings are great spaces, empty canvasses," she said. "They're often neglected. It could make this town or any town that has them so much nicer looking. You go to places with art alleys and it's just amazing. It draws people down there."
