Metis artist creating mural to mark province's centennial

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Metis artist Roger Jerome has been selected to create a mural for Saskatchewan's legislative building in celebration of the province's centennial.

Jerome, who lives in Air Ronge, was chosen from among eight Saskatchewan First Nations artists invited to submit designs that would reflect the experiences of the Indigenous peoples of Northern Saskatchewan.

"Roger Jerome represents a true example of the creativity and imagination of the people of Northern Saskatchewan," said Joan Beatty, minister of Culture, Youth and Recreation, when she announced Jerome's selection.

Jerome responded by saying he is "honoured and humbled." He also admits to being a bit overwhelmed.

"It's such a milestone project," he said.

The mural will be 23.5 feet wide and 17.5 feet high and will cover the north wall of the third floor rotunda, opposite a mural created in 1933 by J.S. Leman that depicts a buffalo hunt in the Qu'Appelle Valley.

The details of Jerome's design are being kept secret until the mural is unveiled during the royal visit of the Queen in May. However, Jerome has already given the work a title-Northern Tradition and Transition.

"It's sort of like looking through a window at another culture," he said.

When he was first invited to submit a design for the mural, he found it challenging to come up with something he was happy with.

"Then I went to the bush, and I guess that's where my studio is," Roger Jerome said. He returned inspired, and created the design that won him the honour of creating the centennial mural.

Jerome has been creating art all his adult life. In his early 20s he took a commercial art course in Brandon, Man. and worked in the graphic arts business for almost 30 years. He has worked in a variety of media ,including chalk, pastels, charcoal, airbrush, acrylics and oil paints, and his sandblasted cedar signs are prominently featured in front of places like Gordon Denny community school in Air Ronge and the Robertson Trading Company in La Ronge.

Jerome has taken time off from his part-time job as a corrections worker at the Besnard Correctional Centre to work on the mural in Regina. The scope of this project gives Jerome the opportunity to use top quality oil paints and have other artists assist him.

The Saskatchewan Arts Board is responsible for managing the overall mural project. Peter Sametz, director of operations, said a number of elements of Jerome's design proposal caught the attention of the selection committee. Four qualified assessors, including two northerners, were asked to evaluate the "eight very strong submissions" and present their recommendations.

"What we heard from the assessors about Roger's work is that it's a simple design, and yet very poignant," said Sametz. "It engages the attention and the interest of the viewer immediately and leaves you with a very lasting impression."

Jerome's original design has since evolved in consultation with an artistic advisor with the arts board.

"I would like to acknowledge their kind support and sensitivity toward this project," said Jerome. "I'm very open to whatever is going to make the image work better."