The Irish Famine mural was illustrated as a story. From start to finish, a person can see the obstacles of the Irish population in Canada. It begins with the potato famine in Ireland. To the Irish, potatoes were a staple good. When the potatoes were infected with typhoid it left thousands starving. Families were unable to provide the nutrition found in the potatoes, so they left to seek a better life in Canada. The Irish left on ships, bringing with them, in most cases, only the clothes on their back. Over the course of the journey across the Atlantic Ocean, as many as one quarter to one half of all immigrants died. After the journey many children were left orphaned.
Before they arrived in Canada, the boats ported in Grosse Île, in the St. Laurence River. As many as eighty-seven ships had landed on the island before the first week of June. The people were greeted by fever huts, sheds cramped with stiff wooden beds. The sick were led to the huts where priests and nuns attempted to nurse them back to health. Those who survived the sickness then travelled to Québec to start their life in Canada. The many orphans left behind were given sanctuary under the roof of the church. French-Canadian families did not hesitate once they heard there were children in need of a place to stay. Families that already had ten to seventeen children opened their arms to the Irish orphans. The parents allowed the Irish children to keep their last names in remembrance to their families and their native land. The orphans were raised in a french-speaking culture. So, it is not uncommon to encounter a tall, fair-skinned man of unmistakable Irish heritage who speaks and thinks like a French Canadian. Genuine Irish names such as Cassidy, Longergan, Sullivan, Quinn or Murphy, can be heard all over Canada to this very day.
Each artist took on a section of the mural, Rory painted the first panel, Olivia the middle and Colette tackled the last one. While painting the french Canadian family, Colette thought that instead of replicating an image of a family onto the mural, she instead would use faces of friends and family. The three in the center are the artists disguised inside their very own mural along with there supervising art teacher, instrumental in keeping everyone on task, Tara R. Ricioppo. They came to paint every Sunday from February to June. “By the time we neared the deadline for having this mural completed, instead of the three original artists, we had seven working on the mural. It was a little hectic those last couple of weeks!” says Colette Bachand.
