"Legacy"
by Doug Driediger
The following is some background information about the
mural.
The idea for the mural originated with Calgary architect
Bill Milne. In 1995, Bill approached Bud McCaig, Chairman of the
Petroleum Club's Art Committee, to discuss the possibility of
having a mural painted on the Club's back wall. Mr. McCaig was
receptive to the idea and brought it to the Club's Board of
Governors for discussion. The Board was supportive but the question
was raised, "where would the funding for the mural come from?" To
answer that, Mr. McCaig thoughtfully 'invited' six companies to
participate in the project. Through the generosity of Imperial Oil,
Precision Drilling Corp., Prudential Steel Ltd., Shell Canada Ltd.,
Stampeder Exploration Ltd. and Trimac Corporation, the necessary
funds were raised.
Many thanks are extended to these companies for their
vital involvement.
The next step was to choose Doug Driediger as the artist.
Doug came highly recommended and had considerable experience in
this form of art. Doug came one night in early June 1997 with an
overhead projector. He projected the outline of the primary
elements of the mural onto the wall and made a 'tracing' of these
elements. Doug had made ten transparencies of a sketch of his for
this purpose. This was necessary so he could keep the proper scale
and perspective involved with such a large 'canvas' (48x150 feet).
It then took Doug the next three to four weeks to paint in the
details.
The 'photograph' on the right hand side of the mural is
an actual snapshot of the drilling crew from the Golden Spike Well
#1. From left to right, the men are: Warren Donovan, Billie McKay,
"Swede" Ivorsen, Pete Bishop and Joe Henry. The driver of the fuel
truck is Art Meding, the grandfather of Doug's wife. The oil rig is
a replica of the Turner Valley Dingman #1 at Heritage Park. This
part of the mural represents Alberta's oil rich
past.
The subject matter then embraces the present day and a
modern oil rig and pump jacks are featured. The figures and
landscape on the far left of the mural were photographed near the
Springbank/Millarville area. Doug has once again used family
because the rancher is a likeness of his brother-in-law Jeff
Kaenel, and the little girl on horseback is his 10 year old
daughter Roxanne. Here the mural shows how the oil and gas industry
share the land with ranching and farming. By including Roxanne, we
see that a member of the next generation is poised to inherit the
cooperative legacy of oil and Alberta.
Thanks to the Calgary Petroleum Club for the detailed information
on the mural.
NOTE: This cache was placed for the CCARS11 event,
held April 30 to May 1, 2011 and is now available for finding.
Thanks.
NOTE: Downtown caches are tough on GPS co-ordinates. Bring your
GPSr along but also note the location from Google Maps in the GC
website.
To log this cache,
sign log (see hint below)
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