New murals now hang at the 52 Canadians Rink in Fort Frances.

They were originally from the former Rainy Lake Hotel.

One depicts the mill and was located in the hotel’s Mill Room.

The other, a painting of the Causeway, was in the dining room.

The town Operations and Facilities Manager Travis Rob says they had them restored after being removed during the hotel’s demolition.

“We had shipped them off to an art restoration team in Winnipeg where they cleaned them and went through the process of fully restoring them, putting a clear protective coat on them, mounting them on new frames, and then they ship them back to us,” says Rob.

The murals had been in storage until roof repairs to the 52 Canadians Rink were finished.

Rob says they were not put up at the museum because of their size.

“They are quite large. We could have hung them in the museum, but they would have taken up one whole wall and then it’s hard to run exhibits with them taking up so much space. So this was just a great opportunity. We have, of course large walls here. We do have some other murals here,” notes Roy.

The paintings were done by Helen Stricklund.

The town has very little background information about the artist or how the painting came to be in the hotel in the first place.
There is no date identified on either painting.

If you have information about the paintings, contact our newsroom at 274-5390 or email news@931theborder.ca.