Artist pulls all-nighter to finish mural

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Brian Seesequasis has been thinking about doing a mural for quite some time. That's only natural considering the Beardy Okemasis band member lives down the road from a town full of murals.

Duck Lake, Sask is becoming famous for mural depicting the history of the West. Murals, collectively entitled Faces of Honour, depict the price and passion of a young nation, telling the story of Indians, Metis and pioneers who settled the land.

Seesequasis has painted since he was 15 and has two huge paintings on the walls of the Duck Lake Regional Interpretative Centre. When not painting, he raises buffalo and has a custom grazing operation.

He decided to paint a mural after meeting Vern and Glenda Huard, who lease Trapper's Roadhouse and Gas Bar from the band, at a hockey game in Saskatoon. They believe local work, especially that of their new friend's calibre, should be available for everyone to enjoy. The couple urged Seesequasis to contribute to the town's outdoor art and he agreed, vowing to do it in a day, having people watch him start and complete his work.

"You'll know Brian is finished when he signs his name," Glenda warned. "And he won't sign his name until he's completely satisfied with every detail."

The artist's theme came to him only two weeks before the big day. One day, when his buffalo were particularly skittish, Seesequasis brought a sheet of paper to the pen to design a new gate. Suddenly he had a clear image of a wild-eyed buffalo and began sketching. This was to become the central buffalo in the mural. Soon, other animals appeared on the paper around the first. He had the basis for his mural depicting a buffalo jump and the gate design was forgotten.

"Driving buffalo into a pit was not something that was taken lightly," he said. Jumps were only used as a necessity when the people needed food."

The mural is called Saving a Comrade. There are nine buffalo, three riders and three horses.

"I have an opportunity to work with buffalo and when they are corned or confined, it becomes mass confusion," he said, repeating the scene from the past. "Sometimes riders got caught in the herd and came over the pit with the buffalo. That's what happened here. A rider went over and his comrade risked his life to save him."

While Seesequasis sketches came from sitting with the buffalo, the riders were another matter.

"I was lucky to be born with the ability to visualize things," he said. "The riders just came to me. When I did the mural, I used the sketch of the riders to work from, but no others. I wanted it to come naturally."

Dense fog covered Duck Lake the day of the painting. Instead of 7 a.m. as planned, the first brush strokes were delayed until 9 a.m. because the 10 by 16 foot

(15 square metre) wooden base was wet.

A tiny telescope helped the artist with perspective. By looking through the wrong end, he could see a miniature view of the entire work from a few feet away. At home, a mirror behind him serves the same purpose.

The crucial part came just as the sun was going down. He began to paint the riders. The crowd, talking and moving around all day, fell silent. There was hardly a sound as the first rider came to life. Then the sun was gone and it was time to set up lights. Seesequasis worked into the night and only laid down his paint brush after signing his name, at 2:15 a.m.