Jen Cahill
North End Vibes
My very first apartment as a young adult was on Gerrish Street in the North End. I was just getting a sense of who I was as an artist and who I was to become as an adult. I would often walk through the neighbourhood, visit the Commons or eat and shop along Gottingen. I loved the colourful art that was boldly displayed on the sides of buildings and street corners – it was almost like the entire community was one big gallery! This brief time period instilled me with curiosity, a sense of independence and a hunger for discovery. I have since moved away from the North End, but I always attempt to weave bright colours, whimsy, and a sense of a new experience into my artwork for the viewer.
The illustration I chose to make is an effort to capture the bold, vibrant, diverse experience that awaits a visitor to the North End. I melded delicious pizza and shopping in the Hydrostone into the Crayola coloured houses on Agricola, into a nod to my apartment building (now named Ocean Towers) and the greenery of the Commons. I finished the piece with bright colours and movement to draw in those young and young at heart.
Image Description
A modified cityscape with odd angled buildings in the middle including three bright coloured houses from Agricola Street (red, yellow and blue house fronts), a green and yellow building from the Hydrostone is off to the left with the signs "pizza" and "gallery". A sidewalk and then a street weaves through the mid-ground of the illustration with the number 7 bus driving along the street from the left. There are three figures in the illustration. A young teenage girl with pigtails runs along the sidewalk on the right side of the drawing, wearing a green shirt, blue pants and yellow shoes. She is full of energy with limbs cast out in front and behind her. From the bottom left an adult man leans relaxed on letter N in the words North End displayed in yellow accented at the end with a red heart. He is looking out over the community activity. He is wearing a purple long sleeved shirt and a red ball cap. Finally, an adult woman is walking her dog towards you from the bottom right corner of the illustration. Her purple hair ponytail waves in the breeze. She is sporting a blue long-sleeved shirt, striped orange pants and red oversized boots. She is walking her orange-brown dog on long leash. The background is a blue sky where a sun and two seagulls are visible.