#YYCBLOCKPARTY2021

Deerfoot City, Calgary

July 2 - September 30, 2021

#YYCBLOCKPARTY is back! PARK is teaming up with Destination Deerfoot City to give you a reason to play in the sunshine all summer long with the return of 2020’s most beloved photo-worthy spot, #YYCBlockParty – a 215 foot outdoor art and play space. The immersive art experience located by The Food Lodge is free and open to the public starting July 2nd. This year, visitors will be thrilled to find a variety of games and activities including hopscotch, a basketball hoop, ping pong, tetherball, and a track where participants can race against one another to cross the finish line. For those wishing to take a rest, geometric patterned benches will be dispersed along the mural to give players a chance to catch their breath and snap an Insta-worthy photo.

As COVID-19 continues to impact our daily lives, Block Party provides a vibrant, accessible, and safe community space where Calgarians can engage with outdoor public art and one another while socially distancing. Visitors will have over 12,000 square feet of open-air space to explore among picnic tables and benches that meet Alberta Health Guidelines for spacing and cleaning protocols. Guests will have all summer to take in the exciting sights and activities of Block Party to avoid overcrowding.

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Michelle Hoogveld

Street Mural

“Heat Waves”

— Stepping into a colour field of pinks, teals, yellows and blues, the artwork explores a heat wave of stripes and patterns that interact and come together to reveal a love larger than life.

Cory Bugden

Picnic Tables

“Under the Sun”

— Whether it’s zooming on your roller skates, blasting music on a boombox or bouncing a basketball, nothing beats the fun you can have under the sun.

Kiran Rai

Window Decals

“The World is Your Playground”

— Play is serious business. Keep your imagination flowing, your adrenaline pumping, and your inner kid growing.

Artist: Kiran Rai, Photographer: Courtney Verbeek.jpg

Sydonne Warren

Benches

“Bright Blocks”

— These designs are a playful take on the abstracted square. Bright monochrome blocks of colour are interrupted by angled black and white stripes and stunning contrasting colours. The composition highlights continuity, balance and symmetry and reflects the colourful and playful qualities of summer.

DFC Block Party 3, Photographer: Arden Shibley.jpg copy.jpg

DFC Block Party 5, Photographer: Arden Shibley.jpg.jpg

Featured Artists

Featured

SYDONNE WARREN

Sydonne Warren, a visual artist originally from Jamaica but raised in Calgary, Alberta, is known for her vibrant and expressive portrait paintings. She studied Architectural Technologies and Graphic Design at SAIT, and went on to major in Graphic Design at AUARTS. Sydonne has been honing her craft since 2013, and has recently expanded into public art, starting to create works in public spaces in 2020. Her talents don't stop there, as in 2021, she founded a paint and sip business that teaches adults how to create their own expressive portraits. Her artistic abilities have been recognized with Diversity magazine's Artist of the Year Award, and her work has been featured in various local media outlets. Sydonne's portraits often feature black women and incorporate geometric elements, with bright contrasting colors, drips, and spatters adding depth and conveying her cultural experiences.

Cory Bugden

Cory Bugden is a Canadian illustrator based out of Calgary, Alberta. Originally a graphic designer for an agency that served clients like Oakley, Speedo and Red Bull, Cory decided to further his artistic capabilities at the Alberta University of the Arts in 2016, completing his degree in 2020. Cory uses bright colours with a fun and whimsical illustration style that can force a smile on anyone's face. In the future, he’d like to become a studio-owner, creative director, children's book illustrator and amateur freestyle rapper.

Kiran Rai

Kiran Rai (KRAI) is a multidisciplinary Punjabi artist based out of Canada. Well versed in fine arts, design, and architecture, Kiran fuses her love of creating with embracing the public accessibility of the arts. She strongly believes in design by the people, for the people.

Engaging with topics surrounding women and their cultural, digital, and diasporic identities, she reflects and celebrates the collisions of ethnographics, while also working to decolonize western frameworks and investigate key social issues. Her recent artistic endeavours include showcasing in galleries, live painting, public murals, and NFT projects.

Always interested in experimenting with different styles and mediums, Kiran has completed her Masters in Architecture in which she lived in Tokyo part-time. She is also an avid world traveller, plant

mom, and iced chai connoisseur. She is curious to see how design and art can intersect to provide meaningful connections in everyday life.

Michelle Hoogveld

Michelle Hoogveld is a Canadian painter and mural artist whose distinctive style is inspired by colour theory, connection, and matters of the heart. Michelle creates compositions of bold patterns and textile-like blockings of colour, with layers that weave and fold together as an intricate tapestry of who we are, celebratory of human identity and emotion. Her colourful works are internationally recognized, beautifying and uplifting spaces in both the public and private realm. Creating around the world, Michelle has worked with a wide range of clients in Canada, the United States, Peru, Mexico, Germany, Portugal, and England.