More BUMP and Run

We had a brief return to winter weather last week, which was a good excuse for me to dig through more Beltline mural pictures. This piece is not a lesson in how to hit a “bump and run”… a crafty shot that will be familiar to golfers… it’s a mash-up of pictures from several recent photo runs.

Like the first post in this series, I scouted out Beltline Urban Mural Project (BUMP) murals and did background research on the artists. Routes for all my urban photo runs are “organic”… dictated by red lights, convenient turns, and whatever street scenes catch my eye.

This post highlights murals in the large area from 17th Avenue SW to the downtown core. There are so many pieces in this area, with more coming in 2025, that there will certainly be more posts in the future.

Some of my favourites:

• Seeroro (Carolyn Wong, @seeroro_ ) is a Chinese-Canadian artist from Vancouver. “Euphoria” is a colourful, three-sided mural inspired by the Tortoise and Hare folktale and the year of the water rabbit in the lunar calendar. Wong’s mural is tucked in between the buildings at 625 11 Avenue SW. Well worth the search!
• birdO (Jerry Rugg, @jerryrugg ) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. He is well-known for large-scale murals on walls and buildings. His spectacular untitled piece at 441 5th Avenue SW is of a peregrine falcon, with the city skyline reflected in the bird’s eye. I’ve photographed this piece often.
• Fluke ( @fluke.art ) is based in Montreal. His work as a street artist has roots in graffiti going back to the mid-1990s. Working with photographers, Fluke merges street art and contemporary imagery to create his pieces. His untitled mural on the west face of 1039 17th Avenue SW was glowing in the setting sun when I shot my photo.
• Hanna Reimer ( @hannaclare ) is a Treaty 1 artist from Winnipeg, whose works emphasize texture and pattern. Hanna’s interest in fabric was the inspiration for her mural at 739 11 Avenue SW. She chose colours and patterns to make the wall appear to be flowing like sheer fabric. I found the juxtaposition with the angular Cybertruck jarring, but too good to pass up.

And a few more:

While I was thinking about murals, I paged through my files and came up with more pictures and stories. These fall a bit outside the topic of this post as they weren’t taken “on the run”, but that’s okay.

In 2019, I was walking around the Beltline with a newly repaired Voigtlander Vitessa T. I had picked the camera up on eBay with low expectations. It was 70 years old and non-operational. The camera is unique: it’s a rangefinder, and it has a plunger instead of the usual film advance lever. (Perhaps not surprisingly, this is a weak element of the design. It’s probably why this feature didn’t find its way into other cameras!) Fortunately, I found a fellow in Calgary who patiently (and cheaply) sourced the required spring to get it going again.

The following pictures were taken within a minute of each other. I had been walking around 17th Avenue SW with my Ricoh GR III, on the lookout for interesting people or street scenes. On that day, I remember being disappointed that I had not seen much that caught my eye.

I walked down 13th Street, past the alley behind Calgary Jewellery, and snapped a quick shot of a fellow walking by Alex Kwong‘s huge (and hugely impressive) 2021 piece. Unfortunately, I don’t have many details about the mural. It doesn’t appear to be part of the BUMP series. Alex has done other pieces around the city, including a couple for BUMP. Check out his website and Instagram ( @_alexkwong ).

After I snapped this picture I turned onto 17th Avenue, and I noticed a stylish guy approaching me. An obvious picture was coming together… I just had to wait for him to pass in front of the colourful mural at 1137 17th Avenue SW. The bright elements in the mural complement his confident personal style.

In my research, I learned that the mural is by Calgary artist Toner ( @bravotoner ). The piece is titled Companion and it was painted in 2020. I realized I wasn’t being totally fair to Toner by having the best part of his mural obscured, so I went back and photographed it on its own to reveal a beautiful parrot. Here’s the whole image. Nice work Toner!

An interesting fact is that Toner and Kwong have collaborated on pieces around the city. I’ll be back soon with more in my next post.

Until then, be well and BE FAST!