Fred discussed putting a mural on the surface of one of the buildings to the left of the silos. Due to the potential for a grain dust explosion and for insurance reasons, the idea was vetoed.
Never one to give up, Fred continued to present and promote his idea. Finally in the late 1990s, the plan was approved however, the mural would be painted onto the ADM silos instead. The curving of this structure represented an artistic challenge the Fred Lenz was up to.
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After years of planning and of hoping, Fred Lenz's dream of creating the largest mural in Midland, Ontario is finally going to be a reality. The original design was to depict the point in the history of the Sainte-Marie village when it was destroyed and set on fire. Flames would climb from the village and towards the sky and the top of the silos. Not wanting to represent that period of history, the alternative design the showed a Huron native and Jesuit priest looking towards the village of Sainte-Marie as it would have looked in the 1640s. Sainte-Marie was a site in the mid 1600s where Jesuit missionaries lived among the local Huron Indian people for about ten years. Later as the Huron Nation was scattering for fear of the encroaching Iroquois tribes, five priests met their death before the settlement was abandoned and burned.
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Work on the mural was started on October 15th 1999, This mural is a part of Midland's "Millennium Project" and is commissioned by the Midland Business Improvement Area merchants association and ADM. After a good Fall weather-wise, Fred Lenz was able to get setup and complete the Jesuit priest portion of the mural. For only two months of work, "the ultimate pinnacle" of Fred's life in art was well underway. |
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| September 1999 - In The Beginning | October 20, 2001 - The Final Chapter |
| In the Spring of 2000, work on the mural didn't resume until July due to a wet and cold season. Not to seem discouraged, Fred still felt that he would have the mural completed by year's end. By August the Huron native on the opposite end of the silos began to take shape. With the help of his sons Stephen and Robert, the remaining portion of the silos was painted with the grey basecoat and holes were filled. September saw the completion of the native and the edge of the village being started. His sons now worked on putting in the grids so the village can be roughed in with Fred completing part of the fence surrounding the buildings. Work continued into November, when a sudden and surprise snowfall put a stop to the 2000 season of painting. Approximately 80% of the mural had been completed. |
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During the long winter of 2000/2001 Fred's health began to deteriorate. By May of 2001, his fight with cancer ended as Fred passed away on May 28, 2001 in Barrie Ontario at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Some were concerned as to who would now complete his project. Rumors and hopes were that sons Stephen and Robert would complete the mural for their father. |
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| Stephen Michele Robert |
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By mid July, Fred's sons returned to the ADM silos along with Michele Van Maurik to start work on the final portions of the mural. During July, Stephen and Robert finish roughing in the remaining part of the village in the area left empty at the end of 2000. With all the outlines completed, Stephen, Robert and Michele began painting in the detail in this portion of the silos. The month of August saw a portion of the village completed and while Michele worked on painting the river and shoreline, another scaffolding was brought in and the brothers put up the grid and then outline of the scroll on the end silo. Stephen then put up the Sainte-Marie logo on the scroll before he and Robert returned to working on the village. This allowed Michele to continue the text on the scroll and begin the background work.
After a hot, humid and dry summer the rain returned in September providing fewer days for painting. There were fewer days but all were productive. The month of September saw the scroll completed with an old style ink well and quill added below it. Along the bottom bull rushes were painted in and around the end of the curve of the elevator the shoreline continued with the details of the forest. Back in the village Stephen and Robert needed to adjust the size and location of some of the buildings before completing the woodwork on the walls, completing the fencing and work on putting shingles on all the roofs. Also added in late September was a Trumpeter swan to the open area under the scroll. The weeds were painted over and a large swan inserted. October started off on a sour note as Robert Lenz was let go from the project for expressing his concerns regarding changes that were made to the mural. The grass was re-painted within the village walls and Michele and helper Scott re-painted and re-designed the grass outside the village at the left end of the mural. Stumps and fallen trees were added. With Robert gone, Stephen continued work on the village to finish the buildings. Michele and Scott painted in more people in the village and canoes along the river at the top. On October 13, 2001, Dennis Brabant and Michele Van Maurik announced that the mural was completed, even though some of the fencing and shingles had yet to be completed. So the mural that Fred Lenz started in October 1999 had been finished by his sons Robert and Stephen with Michele Van Maurik by October 2001. The project went from "the ultimate pinnacle" of Fred's life in art, through good weather and bad, through the sad time of Fred's passing, to the excitement of his sons completing their father's work, to ending with changes and high emotions. We will never know if this is how Fred Lenz envisioned his final mural. |
