Visitors to Petrolia will soon get an artful look at the oil town’s past.
Mark Moran, the publisher of Daytripping, is working with Watford Artist Francis Martin, and members of Petrolia Heritage to erect a 20 foot long mural on Petrolia Line.
The idea for the mural has been a seed in Moran’s mind for a while. When his friend, Central Lambton artist Barbara Perrin, passed away, he was entrusted with her art supplies and paintings. The proceeds from the items which have been sold at charity auctions – and a Creative County grant – are being used to create the mural with paintings by Martin.
The mural will show an oil well, a portrait of Charlotte Eleanor Englehart, the cenotaph, the front cover of the former Petrolia Advertiser-Topic the week Victoria Hall went up in flames, and a fiddler on the stage into the future.
“Victoria Hall is the heart of this community,” he says adding it’s hard to imagine what the community would have looked like had it not been rebuilt after the tragic 1989 fire. The mural is also a tribute to Perrin, who Moran said preserved the history of rural Lambton with her art.
The mural will hang on the wall of Heidi’s Independent Grocery store. It’s expected to be erected this fall.
