‘Lucky to do something I enjoyed so much’: Celebrated Medicine Hat artist revisits his art

Hatters walk by Marshall’s art on a regular basis, including pieces at the police station and at Co-op Place.

Marshall revisited three of his pieces over the weekend at the Redcliff City Hall, the old I-XL Brick Plant and St. Joseph’s Park in Medicine Hat.

According to his mother, Marshall had been creating art before he could walk and has spent his entire life dedicating himself to his pieces.

Inspired by his time at the since retired I-XL plant, he knew immediately what his career would end up being.

(Adrian St.Onge/CHAT News)

“I got the idea when I worked at I-XL Industry as a marketing guy,” Marshall said.

“I was doing pottery and small sculptures back then and when I saw all that clay at I-XL, I knew I had a career when I finished up,” he told CHAT News.

Revisiting and reflecting on his piece at the Redcliff City Hall, completed in the early 2000’s, most of the piece was inspired by the local history before him as well as his own personal experiences.

The mural commemorated many local businesses, including CHAT News, the old glass plant and I-XL Industries, the piece features many prominent members of the community and companies that helped Redcliff get their start.

Marshall said he’s proud of the work he’s done on the mural.

“We showed the damage done by the cyclone that went through,” he said.

“There’s some really important people here, the former mayor who went into the First World War…yeah, I think we picked out some real good history.”

Down the way, beyond the RCMP detachment, is the site where the brick plant was.

(Adrian St.Onge/CHAT News)

Amongst the old pieces of retired machinery from the plant is a mural, completed in 2014.

Noting the significantly more pronounced third dimension, Marshall said more brick has to be laid behind to create the effect.

Marshall said that extra bricks posed a challenge, but ultimately turned out better than he had anticipated.

His biggest hope when creating the piece was for an industry of the past to be celebrated.

“I hope it stays forever and it builds and gets a little better as Redcliff grows.”

“Maybe they refine it a little bit as a nice little park and we’ll remember one of the first industries here, maybe forever.”

The last piece Marshall revisited was at St. Joseph’s Park.

The park shows 13 of the 14 Stations of the Cross, depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The 14th station can be found at St. Patrick’s Church.

(Adrian St.Onge/CHAT News)

Marshall said he was approached by one of the nun’s at St. Joseph’s after she had seen his previous work in Ontario.

He felt compelled to have the project completed, and did so at cost, meaning there was no profit on the piece.

Spanning ten years, from the mid 1990s to the late 2000s, Marshall said the entire project was done through community fundraising and involved the support of hundreds of people.

“It took the donors and it took the church to get it started and organized,” Marshall said.

“St. Joseph’s had this property and wanted to turn it into something good for their patients in the home and it worked out really good,” he added.

“They were coming around and praying at them as we finished and while we were working on them. It was really quite fantastic.”

Marshall said he feels blessed for the work and passion he’s been to share and hopes that his artwork and his work restoring Medalta with Jack Forbes is celebrated for generations to come.

“I hope that we’ve left a good life’s work behind that everybody can enjoy.”

“Some of them belong to people privately and some of them are public and I think I was real lucky to do something I enjoyed so much and make a living at.”

by Adrian St.Onge

‘Lucky to do something I enjoyed so much’: Celebrated Medicine Hat artist revisits his art

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