Employees clocking in for work at the Book Depot in Thorold are getting a more colorful start to the day after an artist finished a mural at the retailer's staff entrance.
Hamilton painter and prop-maker Tim Nijenhuis started working on the mural last summer and finished the first part of his work at the location just last month.
The painting, ordered by the Book Depot, draws inspiration from the business itself and cleverly encapsulates pictures of young readers in stacks of books, that are outlined by the natural pattern of the brick wall.
Even some local sights can be seen through the stacks of books, as Lock 7 and the Welland Canal came to life in vibrant colors on the walls.
Nijenhuis told Thoroldnews.com that the Book Depot management had seen his previous work in Hamilton for a Christian organization that promotes education across the world and became inspired.
"Part of the idea behind that mural was that education transforms people, it causes a kind of metamorphosis. Literature also promotes change, and the Book Depot really tapped into that literacy also changes the world," said Nijenhuis.
"The managers there really wanted their workers feeling inspired. It's not just loading up books and shipping them out, but that they are actually contributing to changing the world. Especially in the pandemic, a lot of people are interested in stimulating positive feelings and attitudes. It definitely played a role."
The Book Depot also wanted its employees to be represented in the painting - which Nijenhuis figured out the perfect way to do, by including some of the staff picks titles in the painting.
"It was a lot of Steven King, Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter... You name it, it's all in there," Nijenhuis said.
Also producing props for tv-productions and also doing musical scoring, Nijenhuis noted that the demand for his public artworks seem to have gone up in the past year, as the pandemic has brought out a yearning for color and vibrancy from both public institutions and businesses.
He's hoping to do more work in Thorold after his second stint at the Book Depot is completed.
"I saw that there were a lot of murals that were in rough shape down by the canal... I could fix those up or make something new there if the city asks me to."
Keep up with Tim Nijenhus' work here:
