The story of Newmarket’s beginnings — before it actually became known as Newmarket — has come to life in a beautifully detailed mural newly installed in the town’s historic downtown core.
The large-scale artwork, titled A New Market on the Holland River, was created by Toronto artist John Kuna for the exterior wall of the Buckley Insurance Brokers building near Main and Water streets.
From a bench at the Riverwalk Commons location at the Holland River, it’s possible to view both the new mural and the actual location of the 1814 Roe & Borland Trading Post depicted in the mural before Newmarket was incorporated as a town.
Commissioned by Buckley Insurance Brokers in partnership with the Town of Newmarket, the mural depicts two Chippewa families arriving at the trading post by the Holland River — the “New Market” — where they are greeted by members of the founding Quaker community.
“Now, more than 200 years later, we stand here on this very spot depicted on this mural,” said Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen at the celebration event Nov. 5. “Joined by residents, local businesses and students, as well as representatives from the Georgina Chippewa First Nations and Quaker communities, we are here to celebrate the partnerships that made this piece of art possible.
“If there is a common thread woven throughout the story of Newmarket, it would be the theme of collaboration.”
Inspiration for the design came easily to Kuna, who said, “Essentially, this is where Joseph Hill and the original Quakers came from Vermont to the Holland River to create a mill pond. This is the area that Newmarket actually sprouted out of. It’s not (often) you get an opportunity to actually situate a mural that is as responsive to the environment as it is in this case.”
In 1801, Timothy Rogers brought Quaker families from Vermont and Pennsylvania, escaping the violence and unrest there, to begin settlement of what was then known as Upper Yonge Street, which became the roots of Newmarket, the Town’s economic development officer, Chris Kallio, said at the official celebration.
Across the street, where Cachet Restaurant is currently located, is where early settler Joseph Hill built the first mill. Other business entrepreneurs and residents soon followed, and a flourishing community began to take shape.
In 1814, William Roe and Andrew Borland travelled from York (Toronto) to begin trading with the local Aboriginal People, soon establishing a permanent trading post on the site where Chiropractic On Main currently operates.
“The basement area of that building has the original hand-hewn timbers of the trading post,” Kallio said.
“I think you will agree that (Kuna) has truly captured a sense of the wonder and the excitement of a new frontier full of possibility facing these newly arriving settlers and entrepreneurs,” he added.
Both the opportunity and the challenge for Kuna was designing a heritage-inspired mural for which no historical photographic records exist.
“I get a special satisfaction when I get to design a photo-realistic image that takes place in a historical period devoid of any photographic reference,” he said. “It gives you a greater degree of artistic freedom because you have to re-imagine and reconstruct everything as much as possible. At the same time, there is a greater degree of artistic responsibility to pay respect to the amount of time that has passed from that scene to the present, and to pay homage to what life might have been like and still have people relate to it today.”
The view of the trading post in the mural reconstructs what you would have seen 200 years ago looking to the north, with the expanse of the Holland River stretching before you in the background.
Kuna discovered a photo of Roe in his later years, which he used as his model for the younger Roe who stands in the doorway of the trading post in the mural.
The other figures are “re-imagined”, he added — the Quaker and Chippewa families, meeting for the first time at the new trading post.
He chose a winter setting to recognize the challenges of “a harsh land” for the settlers, adding “the white of the snow represents a blank slate of which history is yet to be written”.
The only figures looking outward toward the viewer are the two children, one a Quaker, one a Chippewa, “addressing the future relationship between the settlers and the Indigenous People of Canada,” he said.
The mural is composed of 16 separate weather-durable aluminum composite panels.
Kuna, who worked on the mural for two months in his studio, saw it pieced together in its entirety for the first time at Monday’s event.
“I like to design my pieces not just as paintings that go up on a wall … I think it’s fairly important that they act almost like a piece of architecture in themselves, that they integrate into the area … and exist in harmony with everything that’s around them,” Kuna said.
While he enjoys painting large-scale murals because they bring art to the public, his work is minutely detailed.
“The thing I like particularly about murals is it’s a really democratic art form. It’s not a painting that you have to go to the gallery to see, you don’t have to make an appointment, it’s there, it’s part of the environment (and) anybody passing by has the chance to look at it,” he said.
“Even though the piece hangs at such a distance that you won’t be able to appreciate, for example, the crazy amount of fur on the wolf skins and on the dress of the figures, nonetheless, when I made the design, I liked it so much, I really got into the detail.”
The mural is “a great example of how we continue to find new ways to celebrate our history and heritage and to integrate arts and culture into our community,” Mayor Van Bynen said.
“(This mural) captures a moment in our collective history for all of us to learn from and to think about and to share. It is our hope that the residents and visitors to downtown will stop and take the time to view this mural and reflect on its meanings and to learn something that they may not have known before about Newmarket.”
This mural was commissioned by Buckley Insurance Brokers in partnership with the Town of Newmarket as part of the Town’s façade improvement and restoration program, which supports redevelopment in the downtown and parts of Davis Drive.
The mural was created in consultation with the Newmarket Historical Society, the Elman W. Campbell Museum, Heritage Newmarket, Suzanne Smoke of Biindigen Healing and Arts and the Chippewas of Georgina Island Chief and Council.
Kuna, who was born in Czechoslovakia and arrived in Canada at the age of 11, began working on mural painting after completing his studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design. His artwork can be seen in public and commercial installations and private collections in more than 40 cities throughout Canada, the United States and Europe, including the Islington Mosaic Heritage Mural Project that is comprised of 26 individual art pieces that transform five blocks along Dundas Street West in Toronto into a single cohesive artwork.
