mural 25 

36.58M x 3.05M (120’ x 10’), CYPRESS STREET

waiting for the whistle

Painted in 1989 by Robert Dafford,
Lafayette, Louisiana.

The Artist

One of America’s most prominent mural artists, Robert Dafford considers his artistic career began as early as high school. His studies in art at the University of Southwestern Louisiana were interrupted by the Vietnam war, and he served for three years as a naval illustrator and draftsman aboard the U.S.S. Independence in the Mediterranean. Since then, he has painted more than fifty murals, ten of which are in Canada. Most recently Dafford has worked in Europe and the central U.S., but he always returns home to Louisiana where he resides with his partner and wife and their two daughters.

Brother and fellow artist Douglas Dafford assisted with Waiting for the Whistle. The two artists often collaborate, Douglas handling the engineering challenges while Robert concentrates on the artistic aspects of a project.

The Art

On a quiet Saturday afternoon in November 1923, a massive and violent fire consumed the entire roof of the third Chemainus mill and the structure collapsed. In the spring of 1924, much to the relief of the townspeople, the foundations were laid for a new mill, to be known as one of the largest of its kind in the world. It was not until 1940, however, that a new whistle was installed on the roof of the fourth mill.

The central theme of this expansive tryptic is that of the mill and its workers anticipating the end of the shift with the sounding of the handsomely crafted steam-operated whistle. Somber greens and blues mark the dying light of an evening in summer.

To the left is an image of Bob Swanson, mill engineer and the inventor of the whistle, standing beside the gleaming brass and piping of the device itself. This is superimposed on a sepia-like composition of mill workers who have just completed the rebuilding of the interlocking skidder. Jack Work (with hat), inspector for the E&N Railway, gave the okay for the machine to be returned to the tracks. Swanson was responsible for the refitting, devising air controls and a second boiler for extra power.

To the right is another portrait of mill workers assembling and installing the new mill whistle in 1940, set against a sepia-like reproduction of the mill’s bull saw. During its heyday, the fourth mill was an example of efficiency and productivity, and was renowned for its size and modernity. The whistle was retired with the mill in the early 1980’s, and is now on display in the Chemainus Valley Museum. Next Mural >