HUMBOLDT — A mural artist is coming to talk about one of his pieces that was donated to the Humboldt & District Gallery.
Richard Widdifield’s Saskatchewan Centennial Commemorative Mural was donated by the Saskatchewan NDP to the gallery’s permanent art collection in the fall of 2023. The mural was in Regina’s Evraz place.
The piece of artwork, currently hanging in the Humboldt & District Museum on the main floor, spans six feet tall and 11 feet across.
Widdifield is coming to Humboldt on Feb. 29 to speak on the process he used to develop the mural and plans to unveil a surprise at the end of his presentation that came from developing the mural.
This mural depicts the visual history of the province from 1905 to 2005 and contains references to hundreds of Saskatchewan people and communities – including two Humboldt references.
Widdifield’s journey to painting the Saskatchewan Centennial Commemorative Mural began in 1989 when he travelled to over 300 provincial heritage sites with the goal of one day writing a book.
“It was important to have representation of women, First Nations, newspapers and the political climate within the mural,” Widdifield told SASKTODAY.ca.
This research became the foundation for the mural, commissioned to paint in 2004 for the 2005 Saskatchewan centennial. Originally from Creelman in the Weyburn area, Widdifield said there are references to Tisdale’s Brent Butt of Tisdale and the Melfort Moon newspaper.
Richard will be at the museum to talk about his research into Saskatchewan history and all the steps that went into turning this complex idea into reality.
See some of the early sketches of the mural and discuss the visual heritage of Saskatchewan.
Widdifield will be giving this talk at the museum on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m.
