Well before women’s lib put her to good work, “We Can Do It” Rosie the Riveter was flexing in a different setting: America’s Second World War home-front mobilization.
And decades before “Keep Calm and Carry On” started popping up on coffee mugs and Facebook profiles as a “daily affirmation” in the face of the 2008 global recession, Britain’s most iconically British slogan covered the streets of London after threats of mass German air attacks.
Canada’s trade war with the United States is not an actual war. But it’s inspiring some chest-thumping slogans and popular memes, from “Elbows Up” to Winnipeg artist Kal Barteski’s viral visual satires of the Tariffer-in-Chief south of the border.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Artist Kal Barteski has been creating poignant patriotic work in the wake of the U.S. trade war with Canada.
Much of her recent work in this patriotic vein has been less pointed and more poignant.
“I’ve been feeling passionate about how much I love Canada and Winnipeg,” says Barteski. “And I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if this (sentiment) was something the Free Press could take — and just go for it.”
Barteski tapped the Free Press with a design idea and the project evolved from there. Tote bags, mugs and stickers bearing her “Canada Proud, Manitoba Strong — My Free Press” design are now part of an offer to new subscribers and are available at a discount for existing paid readers.
“I believe in a free press,” says Barteski. “And to me, there’s something that will always be important and magical about tactile news. I have very fond memories of sitting at the breakfast table with my dad turning pages.”
Tactility is a big part of Barteski’s esthetic. The unruly brushstrokes of her #kbscript — which she paints by hand — have become one of Winnipeg’s most recognizable typefaces, swathing campaigns and projects around the city and well beyond.
She’s worked with Lonely Whale, Lululemon, the Winnipeg Jets, Virgin Radio, United Way and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, to mention a few.
The recipient of the King’s Coronation Medal also recently worked with Murray Sinclair’s family on a series of prints, cards and posters celebrating the words and legacy of the late senator. (Proceeds go directly to the Murray Sinclair Memorial Fund at the Winnipeg Foundation.)
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Barteski’s works, which she paints by hand, have become one of Winnipeg’s most recognizable typefaces, now featured on new Free Press tote bags and mugs.
“To know the truth, we must begin by telling it,” reads one of the pieces, a well-known quote by Sinclair from his time leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Barteski’s engagement with topical Canadian themes often sends her out of her Wolseley home and into the North.
Just as regionally iconic as #kbscript are her paintings of polar bears. Winnipeggers may recognize her work from Back Alley Arctic, a series of garage-door paintings along the back alleys of Canora and Ethelbert streets in Wolseley.
Barteski says these unconventional murals were practice runs for the SeaWalls Churchill mural fest. Organized by Barteski in 2017, with contributions from 18 other muralists, the project was the subject of the CBC Gem documentary, Know I’m Here, currently watchable at handcraftcreative.com.
Started, as its website describes, with the “intention to educate and inspire a community to protect the oceans,” SeaWalls Churchill became as much an exercise in civic and Manitoba pride after disaster hit the community.
That year, Churchill’s railway washed out, cutting off the town’s only land access, and railway owners OmniTRAX announced they would not repair the flooded and damaged line.
By the fall of 2017, the town’s famous “Miss Piggy” plane wreck was transformed into Pat Perry’s heart-rending Mayday piece, an ode to the town’s perseverance.
“I believe in a free press… To me, there’s something that will always be important and magical about tactile news.”–Kal Barteski
Vivid scenes of port workers and arctic creatures — some in a social realist vein, others whimsical and cartoony — now blanket the town’s pump house, old military radar bases and buildings.
Especially striking is Barteski’s massive polar bear mural on the town’s Polar Bear Holding Facility, which greets visitors soon after they get off the plane.
“As an artist, I feel excited and proud that images… bring people together. And I think when you bring people together, you amplify the feeling (of the work),” says Barteski.
It’s an attitude that colours her current projects, such as her collaboration with the Free Press.
“I think that all of the stuff that’s coming up in the news has really inspired people,” she says. “Inspired us to shop local, to love local, to appreciate where we are and what we have.”
conrad.sweatman@winnipegfreepress.com
Conrad Sweatman
Reporter
Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad.
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