Baseball Murals

The Work

Rutland Minor Baseball Association (RMBA) celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012. To commemorate the event, RMBA received funding under the Community Public Art Program to apply murals to the baseball dugouts located at Edith Gay Park in the Rutland area of Kelowna, a recreation facility owned and maintained by the City of Kelowna.

The Project

In March 2012, RMBA launched an art contest with local schools. Submissions were sought from age categories ranging from 6 years to 16 years. The goal of the contest was to create images that reflected the meaning of baseball to the participants.

Twelve submissions were received. and the contest entrants participated in a subsequent brainstorming session. At this event, the contest entrants met with invited participants including RMBA alumni, RMBA parents, a representative from the Uptown Rutland Business Association, and a representative of the Okanagan Historical Society.

Participants working in groups reviewed the contest submissions and archival photos. Supplies were provided for participants to draw, and as images developed and the discussion became more focused, the artist produced sketches that captured the emerging ideas. Through this process, RMBA engaged multiple generations in an interactive, hands-on process to fine-tune a concept for an artwork that was ultimately applied by the artists to the dugout walls. Total cost of the project was just over $26,000.00 of which $7,500.00 was provided by the Community Public Art Program.

The Artist

Liz and Dylan Ranney are graduates of the Critical and Creative Studies Program at University of British Columbia Okanagan. Together they comprise Tandem Studios, an artist collaborative. They undertake independent and joint projects including portrait and mural commissions, abstract painting, book illustration, and 3-D gaming design.