Cheeky mural in Prince George celebrates seniors' spirit
'We want to capture them all having fun, smiling,' says artist
There's a new mural going up on the side of a Prince George seniors activity centre and it's a testament to the spirit of the seniors who visit the centre every day.
Artist Gregory Michael Gisslassen — alias Grinch Airbrush — has been commissioned to paint the mural.
"We want to capture them all having fun, smiling," he said.
The figures are based on real seniors that visit the centre, who Gisslassen photographs and later transposes onto his artwork.
"They gave me full reign — I just looked for the 'funnest', the happiest, the 'joyest', the brightest, you know."
Gisslassen, who studied art in school and took an airbrush art course at BCIT, spends about eight hours on each subject.
Some of his depictions of seniors are a little more, well, fanciful.
"Some of them say when they look at the break dancer — we can't do that!" Gisslassen laughed."But everybody loves what's going up."
Angela Fretter, Events Coordinator at the Prince George Seniors Activity Centre, agreed.
"We wanted something to depict how much fun we have here because nobody really realizes that this is an activity centre for seniors," she said.
The Prince George Seniors Activity Centre is located in the old library on 4th Avenue, and Fretter hoped the mural distinguishes this special place.
"It's really important for seniors to feel like they have a place to go where there's people like them, and where they can enjoy the day with," she said.
As for the cheeky subjects, she said "if you sit around and do nothing, you get old".
With files from Jordan Tucker and Daybreak North.