About Rawry & Pohly
Kevin Chow left his childhood home of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to begin a professional pursuit into art through the animation program at Sheridan College in 2004/2005; although he was only able to complete the art fundamentals certificate, his artwork today is a love letter to the intersection of animation and fine art.
He later graduated from SIAST in Moose Jaw with a diploma in business, marketing and then continued to the University of Regina with a B.A. in marketing.
Jamie Mason, a self-taught visual artist and storyteller from Cudworth, Saskatchewan, followed her love of creative writing, the study of literature, and education to the University of Regina, where she pursued two degrees simultaneously, a Bachelor of arts in English and a Bachelor of Education with a minor in Social Studies.
Mason worked through and following her studies at the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District and fell in love with program coordination and urban planning.
In 2010, Chow gifted Mason a teddy bear, the exact duplicate of his own childhood plushie (Pohly), which she named Rawry, but it wasn’t until September of 2014 that Chow and Mason began toying with combining their styles and stories, armed with dollar store sharpies, acrylic paint on canvas and a sense of fun.
They co-founded Rawry & Pohly and began representing their own paintings and artwork, touring across Canada starting in 2015, following their love of pop culture. They later moved to Calgary in 2019, where they experimented in new mediums.
The resulting style of their blended visual art is deeply rooted in pop art; their artwork features striking geometrically shaped characters with minimal, iconic line weight, bold, vibrant colours, farcical names and descriptions.
Most recently, Rawry & Pohly have focused their artistic endeavours into the revitalization of Chinatown in Calgary through the arts.
Their motto, “celebrate your inner child,” is an invitation for viewers to tap into their sense of wonder and playfulness.
The History of Along The River During the Qingming Festival
The famous ink and colour handscroll, Along the River During the Qingming Festival (qingming shang he tu, 清明上河图), depicts a wide range of social strata from the Northern Song Dynasty and contributes to an understanding of the political, economic, technological, artistic, architectural and general social life at the time. Considered an artistic marvel and one of the 10 masterpieces of Chinese history, there is a lot of importance in both the technique and subject of the work.
Painted by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145); over the centuries the handscroll has been reinterpreted by artists in subsequent dynasties, creating homages to the original, each with unique techniques. We, as many artists before us, created our own homage, a Calgary version, entitled Along the Bow.
We created a traditional drawing, digitization of the drawing, and painted our interpretation, or homage, of the Qingming scroll with a focus on one of the most iconic portions of the scroll: the bridge.
There are several reasons we focused on the bridge: it is an iconic and recognizable portion of the scroll, the design size fit on the identified wall perfectly, and the depiction of the bridge scene is adjacent to the Centre Street bridge, which is one of the entrances to Chinatown. The mural is additionally adjacent to the Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens’ Association, which has served Chinese older adults since 1985.
The location of the mural, on the wall of the Harmony building (116 2 Ave SW) in Calgary, AB.
We already have an iconic style by which we influenced the interpretation. We are local Calgary artists actively involved in the Calgary Chinatown community. We specialize in stylistic interpretations of modern pop art, with elements of minimalism, by utilizing traditional sketching, mixed media on murals, canvas, sculpture, and print. A key element of our approach to visual art is encouraging whimsy and play while creating artwork that is visually accessible to the public.
Our modern interpretation depicts a fun and playful scene, with characters who are added to the scroll, such as a person fishing off the boat in the river, the Chinese Zodiac hidden throughout, local Calgary residents, a reference to Home of the Ginger Beef, etc.
We consulted with local community experts on the scroll, the most prominent of which was Tony Wong, the President of the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, and used his interpretations and guidance to influence the creation of the homage, as well as the input of community members and stakeholders.
As visual artists centred on encouraging acts of play and reconnecting with one’s childhood through the lens of visual arts, Rawry & Pohly sought to create an accessible visual work meant for the public. This work was not only immediately recognizable in its intent, but carried an educational and historical connotation for those who delve deeper into the significance of the depiction.
Kevin Chow is currently exploring the important work of reconnecting with his childhood, understanding the two cultures that he grew up with (Chinese and Canadian) and discovering what that means to both his artistic practice, his place in the community, and how he can learn, interpret, exchange, and engage. Working with cultural experts and elders in Chinatown to inform his artistic practice are not only important to him, but will have important implications and takeaways to those of his generation, who are also navigating the space between two worlds.
As a piece so rich in Chinese history, Along the River During the Qingming Festival (qingming shang he tu, 清明上河图) is not only a celebration of Chinese art, but through the modern interpretation by Rawry & Pohly, is a unique artistic and cultural exchange and contribution to centuries of artistic practice between Calgary and China.
The project was celebrated by the community in Chinatown and surrounding area not only upon its completion, but was richly complimented during the painting of the project. Many Chinese seniors were overjoyed to see the work come to fruition and heaped praise upon the project and the artists while they painted the work, happy to see such a cultural exchange and representation within the neighbourhood. Some of the seniors from the Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens’ Association watched the progress of the mural daily for the duration of the 40 painting days. At just over 17 feet long, the painted scroll Along the River During the Qingming Festival depicts a number of unique and fascinating scenes. The Calgary based homage mural Along The Bow, depicts one of the most iconic sections, the bridge.
About The Along the Bow Homage Mural Creation Process
Unveiled on October 12, 2022 Along the Bow was an intimidating mural project. The wall, at 55′ tall and 135′ wide, was the most difficult mural we had ever painted for a variety of reasons: the size of the wall, the August/September heatwave (30C+), and the importance of the original artwork.
The work was created over the course of a year with feedback from the building owners, the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, the stakeholders of Chinatown, and friends and family that lived around Calgary. Tony Wong, the president of the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, was particularly instrumental in the creation of the work as he was the original inspiration behind the homage. His love for the original scroll, and the stories that he would tell about the characters in the work, was what inspired Rawry & Pohly to pursue the homage for their mural.
One of the building owners approached Rawry & Pohly about the wall in the summer of 2021 and that was when they began to work on the concept of the mural. Inspired by Tony’s scroll presentations, they proposed the scroll immediately, then began the work of applying for grants and requesting funding, support, or letters of support from the local community groups.
The composition of the artwork was different from Rawry & Pohly’s usual choice of a single character focused on a bold and bright background. This work was much more detailed and nuanced, with scenes that told important stories throughout. Their careful work on interpreting this piece began with their same approach as always: having fun with art that makes people smile.
There are a number of Easter eggs depicted in the mural including:
Home of the Ginger Beef written on one of the restaurant signs
A fish jumping out of the water, as requested by a community member walking by during the painting
Kevin Chow’s late grandfather fishing off the boat, nearby on the boat is his beloved dog
Kevin Chow’s late mother at the top of the bridge with their family dogs
Jamie Mason’s paternal grandmother reading a book
The Chinese Zodiac in order from left to right
A Fantuan deliveryman
Kevin Chow’s cousin smoking
The artists’ teddy bears, Rawry & Pohly, eating dimsum
A huge thank you to the sponsors:
Calgary Arts Development
Canada Council for the Arts
Harmonious Building Condominium Board
Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, Impark
Calgary Chinatown Business Improvement Area
Chinatown Development Foundation
Rawry & Pohly
Media:
Episode 42: Web series: Living a creative life. Calgary Arts Development. (2023, August 16). https://calgaryartsdevelopment.com/episode-42/
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