Wall Art Mural # 2
33M X 4.2M (108’ X 14’), LEGION STREET
The Thirty Three Meter Collage
Painted in 1982 by Frank Lewis and his partner Nancy Lagana and Paul Marcano
The Artist
Originally from Victoria, B.C. Frank Lewis' career took him eastward in the late 1950's. Soon he was winning acclaim for his work as a professional illustrator. In the late 1960's his style of painting began to change and evolve. Nancy Lagana as Lewis' assistant brought with her an impressive academic art background. Read about all of our artists in the "Festival of Murals" book "Chemainus World Famous Murals".
The Art
On the left, a crew of stevedores at the Chemainus wharf stands before a fully rigged ship, her sails clewed up for drying. Based on a photograph from 1901, the scene is typical of the busy harbour on any given day. Sailing ships and steamers, as many as five at a time, would be loading or waiting to begin their ‘lay days’.
At the centre, a boomman sorts logs in the slippery danger of the log dump. The mill is portrayed here as it was in 1892, it was the third operation to be built on the site. Owned by the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company Limited, it was improved over the years until a fire destroyed it in 1923.
On the right, Engine No. 21 of the V.L. & M. Company rolls off another load into the Chemainus log dump. The year is 1899. The locomotive, a 2-8-0, has already seen two decades of work having been built for the Pennsylvania Railroad as Engine No. 248 in 1879 (CN 433).