Yellowknife couple spruce up Hilltop Apartments with art

A Yellowknife public housing complex in need of renovation has been made a little brighter thanks to Simone and Aidan Cartwright.

The couple said Hilltop Apartments, where units have boarded-up and broken windows, looms over Weledeh Catholic School’s playground, where one of their children attends school.

“It just really didn’t feel like the kind of atmosphere that you want little kids learning and playing in,” Simone said.

“I think it also, for us, speaks to the larger kind of downtown issues. We live right downtown, we both work downtown, our kids go to school and daycare downtown.”

That inspired Simone’s idea for an art project to “brighten the space” until renovations are completed.

She contacted the NWT government, which offered to provide new plywood panels and blue paint, while Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan’s office donated black spray paint.

“They were super receptive – like really, really on board with the idea,” Simone said of the territorial government, adding Morgan’s office and Weledeh school “were really supportive as well.”

Simone said while she originally hoped to get kids at the school and housing complex involved in the project, it was difficult to get funding and by the time everything came together, the school year was nearly over.

She said they decided to scale down the project and Aidan painted the panels over a weekend, featuring blue backgrounds with black ravens and trees.

It’s not the first time Aidan has used raven stencils for a public art project. Several years ago, he said he was part of an initiative to paint dumpsters in Yellowknife’s Old Town. He said you can still see the dumpster he painted near the bowling alley downtown.

“I wanted to continue that aesthetic of simple, plain background, ravens … something that looks like it’s not just northern but very Yellowknife,” he said of the Hilltop project.

Aidan said he hopes people will take away the positive impact that art can make when they see the building.

“Even the day after we finished it, I just overheard a parent saying to a kid as they picked them up from after school, ‘Oh, look at the ravens, isn’t that nice?’ As opposed to not talking about broken windows or things like that,” he said.

“It’s nice to see just how quick a turnaround you can make a place look really nice, while still keeping it that northern theme as well.”

“We can’t control the much larger issues in the North that are happening right now, but if there’s something that you can do, then you should,” Simone said.

In a Facebook post, Morgan thanked the Cartwrights for spearheading the project. The MLA said renovations and improved security measures will get under way at the apartment complex this summer.

“Our downtown community is struggling with so many challenges right now,” she wrote, adding a blend of public art, caring community members and dedicated Housing NWT staff had created “a hopeful basis to continue the work of building a safer, better community for all.”

Hilltop Apartments, on 47 Street, has 24 units across four housing blocks.

Jeanne Yurris, a spokesperson for Housing NWT, said the renovation project is still in the planning stages, where materials are being removed and vacant units assessed.

Yurris said renovations will take place sequentially, by housing block, to minimize the impact on residents. So far, she said, nine tenants have been relocated to other public housing units.