Local artist pieces installed at LMC

Local artist, Terry Walker, is bringing her whimsical artistic skills to the Lacombe Memorial Centre.  

Walker is creating two trash receptacles that will be installed at the LMC and has recently unveiled the first piece, a fairy house.   

Walker worked on the fairy house every day for about three months.  

Typically, Walker works with resin or plaster, but she decided to build the bin out of paper mache, clay, and a concoction she created to ensure the piece would harden, so it was durable.  

“I had to do several layers of paper mache in order to glue all of the little houses on that I made out of tin, floral, and cardboard,” Walker said. “Pretty much anything I could get my hands on. It's kind of like I covered the trash can with trash.”  

Photo courtesy of Terry Walk Studio Facebook page.

Walker explained that she enjoyed adding extra details to the bin to spark people’s imagination.  

“If they're looking at it and all of a sudden they see a little tiny mouse, it puts a smile on their face, and I enjoy that,” she said.   

After Walker finished constructing the bin, she used acrylic paint and instant coffee to paint the piece.  

“I painted the tree part using instant coffee because I could make it as deep of a brown as I wanted,” she said.   

The biggest challenge Walker faced when designing and constructing the bin was ensuring all the intricate details would connect to the piece.  

“I realized as the paper would dry, it kind of sucked in and really grabbed on to the receptacle, so I just started from the bottom up and just kept building it until it was finished and it just hung on,” she said.   

Going forward, Walker is now starting the second piece, a gnome house, that will be installed at the LMC.