Nick Sweetman
Toronto, Canada
Nick Sweetman is a multidisciplinary artist from Toronto. He completed his MFA in 2014 from OCAD University in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media & Design program and went on to receive a certificate from the Mural Routes Leadership Training in Mural-Making program the same year. Since then he has been working in public space on mural projects, often in collaboration with other artists, and in partnership with various non-profit organizations (David Suzuki Foundation, The STEPS Initiative) as well as the City of Toronto. He has managed many large-scale projects in and around Toronto, and he dedicates many projects to raising awareness about social and environmental issues, most notably the importance of pollinators, painting giant bees over busy city streets and coordinating 40-artist laneways of butterfly murals. He has been invited to paint in a number of mural festivals outside of Toronto as well, including Eureka Street Art Festival (California, 2019), Uptown Festival (Kelowna, 2021), Inspire Festival (Edmunston, NB, 2022), and Wynwood Mural Festival (Miami, 2023). He is thrilled to be invited to paint in Calgary’s BUMP Festival this summer.
Mural Statement
Whenever I go to a new place, I am most inspired by seeing different wildlife from what I regularly see at home. When I think of the mountains around Calgary, I think of the amazing, powerful wildlife and wanted my wall to represent some of those species in a dynamic and colourful way. I have a long wall, but not one that can be viewed from far, so I chose small scenes melding together rather than one long picture. I included some symbols of Alberta, the provincial flower (wild rose), fish (bull trout), bird (great horned owl) and animal (bighorn sheep). I also included the mountain goat, leafcutter bee, cougar, grizzly, coyote, and Canadian lynx.