Harvest Retirement Community mural holds special meaning for local artist Kris Jurenas
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When the temporary dining room wall comes down, the brand new expanded dining room at Harvest Retirement Community will be revealed to residents and staff.
"It's awesome," sad Erica Patenaude, Community Relations Director. "New carpet, and I'd say it's more than double the size of this one."
Ground breaking for the Phase 2 expansion was held in November 2014, and Patenaude said the project to expand from 64 apartments to 100 apartments is proceeding smoothly.
"We're actually ahead of schedule, so we're supposed to be done by Christmas. They're going pretty quick."
During the transition 36-year-old Tillsonburg artist Kris Jurenas was invited to create a mural, adding life to the plain white dining room 'construction wall.' His goal was to create a mural the residents could relate to, feel part of, and enjoy.
"I think they did enjoy it," said Jurenas, adding with a laugh, "at least they said they did.
"I really don't like painting in front of people," he admitted. "I'm more of a behind-the-door kind of painter, but I went out of my element and did this, and actually I ended up really enjoying it. I got so much positive feedback from everybody and everybody was so nice. I really enjoyed it."
"Our residents love it," said Patenaude.
Jurenas was inspired by visits to his grandfather's farm west of Eden on Sandytown Road as a child. The pastoral scene features a green field, barn, farmhouse, small red tractor – maybe a Massey Ferguson – and a boy walking through the field trailed by goose and dog.
"It used to be my grandpa's place," said Jurenas, who started the mural on the day of his grandfather Joe's birthday. "I went there every day as a kid. That's what it looked like back then – it looks different now. I enjoyed going there when I was a little guy, playing in the barn with the animals, working on the farm. He had cows, pigs, geese, and chickens."
In total, the art project took more than 70 hours to complete over a six-week period.
"And still more can be added to it. It's just... when do you stop?"
Although it was created as temporary art, and Jurenas will have photographs, it meant so much to him that he wants to keep it. Before the divider comes down, he hopes to cut out the mural.
"In a way, it's kind of like an ice sculpture. It's there, then it melts. I'm sure it's upsetting for them to see it melt, but next winter you have another block of ice."
Self-employed with a house renovation business, Jurenas is a part-time artist dividing time between commission work and his own art.
"This is more of a different style than I'm used to," he said. "I've got a lot of the crazier stuff. I like to do 3-D art and make my own scenes that are definitely wonky and whimsical, out of the norm."