The Grey Nuns

This mural depicts the journey of the Grey Nuns, from its inception to the present day. A common spirit that unifies the mural is manifested through the daisies. In France, daisies are called marguerites, and the many daisies symbolize Marguerite d’Youville, the founder of the Grey Nuns. The Grey Nuns were founded in Montreal in the year 1738.

By 1844, Bishop Boniface Provencher of St. Boniface, Manitoba had asked the Grey Nuns to come to Western Canada. They traveled across the country in birch bark canoes and ox-driven carts, from Montreal to St. Boniface to Lac La Biche. The Nuns provided a number or services to several communities, mostly in the domains of health and education.

At the bottom left corner, one can see the convent the Nuns helped build in 1923. The building is still standing today and is now Ecole Citadellle, a francophone school. Sister Dorilla Simard, who taught there for thirty-five years, was well-known in the community and is fondly remembered by many citizens of Legal. The other buildings in the mural are the General Hospital of Edmonton and Morinville’s St. Jean Baptiste Church. Jesus stands at the top of the mural, spreading his arms and the light of Christ to all the people in Western Canada. The original version of the mural had a crucifix, but was altered to show a resurrected Christ.

The Grey Nuns mural was Karen’s very first mural. “I learned what not to do,” she laughs. “I learned a lot about what not to do.” Karen started painting the mural in late summer and as autumn rolled along, it soon became clear that she would not meet her deadline. A small fort was built so Karen could continue to paint well into the cold weather, but even with a heater, the wall was much too cold for the paint to dry. To prove her point, she painted the red accents on the mural, then waited two weeks for the pain to adhere to the wall. She then told the committee, “Okay, let’s see what happens when we throw a bucket of water on it,” and did exactly that. The paint came running down and the committee agreed to postpone the deadline.