Artist: Abby Gowland

Title: “Kingston in Motion”

Artist Statement:

I’m incredibly grateful to be moving onto stage two of the Robert Bruce Memorial Parking Garage Public Art Project. As a professional artist, Queen’s University BFA graduate, and Kingston resident, I’m excited for the chance to contribute to a space that sits at the heart of our community’s daily rhythm.

Since moving to Kingston in 2018, I’ve come to appreciate the city’s unique blend of heritage, movement, and tight-knit community. While my primary medium is printmaking, I’ve developed a series of digital illustrations for this project, specifically tailored to the DiBond panel format. These works maintain the layered textures, bold colour-blocking, and graphic patterning that define my printmaking aesthetic, creating strong visual impact at a distance. My training at Queen’s refined my sense of composition, allowing me to design works that are compelling whether viewed from the sidewalk, a passing bus, across the street, or from an apartment window above.

My proposed design, Kingston in Motion, features exaggerated, stylized figures that reflect both motion and stillness — two dynamics central to the site. As discussed in the July 2024 focus group, the garage is a space where people pause, wait, pass through, and gather. I’ve mirrored this in my composition: figures biking, skateboarding, and walking their dog are contrasted with others who stroll, sit, or share a goodbye hug. At the heart of the mural, a figure pauses to “smell the flowers” — a reminder to take a moment of rest amid our busy routines.

This proposed design brings vibrancy and positivity to the location while remaining in harmony with its surroundings. Elements like bright clothing and an arching rainbow are balanced with colours and textures sampled from the site; the butter yellow paneling and washed-out brick mimic the mid-rise buildings framing the mural on either side. The iconic blue, orange and white Transit bus on the final two panels, camouflages with the life sized versions throughout the day. These references ground the mural in its environment and reflect the character of the space.

The site itself presents unique challenges and opportunities. As a two-level garage with the skyline visible behind it. I’ve echoed these features in the composition — incorporating blue skies at the top of the first panels and drawing inspiration from the architectural textures nearby. I’ve also referenced the structure’s split-level design in panel three by introducing a dividing pathway that visually separates faster-moving figures (on bikes and skateboards) from the rest of the figures.

Each panel flows into the next to create a sense of movement and connection, reinforcing the space as both a thoroughfare and a destination. Each of the 10 panel’s composition works as its own piece of art, but connects with ease as the viewer stands back and admires it from a distance. Adding pieces of information that travels in between panels such as dog leashes, rainbows, and the park bench mimicking the one located just below it on street-level, are all ways I’ve created movement, cohesion and storytelling within the piece.

I’ve made it a priority to represent the full diversity of Kingston through the figures in my work—people of all ages, genders, orientations, abilities, and cultural backgrounds. As the child of two lesbian mothers, inclusive representation is at the core of my artistic practice. Kingston’s vibrant and multifaceted community deserves public artwork that reflects its richness.

I’ve also embedded local references that tie the work more intimately to its setting. In the first panel, a figure wears a tri-colour backpack representing Queen’s students and alumni commuting to and from campus. In panel six, Alby the squirrel — a campus icon — makes an appearance. In panel five, a man pushes a stroller, wearing a stethoscope as he walks toward Hôtel Dieu Hospital. In panel nine, a Kingston bus driver in uniform takes center stage — a tribute to the essential services that keep our city moving. And in the final panel, a man waves goodbye to the driver, his suitcase in hand, a fresh “Mom” tattoo visible on his forearm — a nod to local tattoo shops like Inkwell and True North, located just steps from the right of the space.

Ultimately, my goal is to create artwork that fosters a sense of recognition, belonging, and shared experience. Whether someone is passing through on their commute, waiting for a bus, or glancing out from their apartment window, I want them to see something familiar — a gesture, a figure, a moment — that reflects their own life and the community around them. Public art has the power to transform a utilitarian space into something more meaningful: a point of connection, reflection, and joy.

With Kingston in Motion, I aim to elevate the everyday — to capture the rhythm of movement that defines this site, while also offering moments of stillness, care, and human connection. I believe this mural can act as a visual anchor within the city: a piece that feels alive, accessible, and distinctly Kingston.

This project is more than a mural; it’s a celebration of who we are, how we move, and the stories that unfold between where we start and where we’re going. It’s a tribute to the quiet beauty of daily life and the vibrant, ever-evolving character of the city we call home.

*This content was written and provided by the artist and no edits have been made.