Kingsbrae Garden will soon be alive with the sound of music, as a New Brunswick artist breathes new life into old pianos, one paint stroke at a time.
A man on Grand Manan collects the pianos and hands them off to Geoff Slater, who is disassembling them and painting each one according to a different theme. They will then be placed in St. Andrews’ Kingsbrae Garden.
“The pianos are being disassembled and painted to be themes in the gardens, so we’ll have a number of different stations, six within the garden, and all of the pianos will be a different theme,” says Slater.
“Some of these pianos, the sound themselves still were what they needed to be, but the outside of the pianos were starting to get a little bit dinged up and what we’re really doing is extending the life of the pianos by a significant amount of time,” says Brad Henderson of Kingsbrae Garden.
The pianos will be set up around the gardens over the summer and will make their debut next Thursday, as the ARTrageous Festival kicks off.
The festival incorporates different forms of art and staff say bringing together music and painting is a perfect way to celebrate.
“It’s everything arts and culture, so to tie the music directly with art, it’s bringing two forms together as one,” says Henderson.
Slater is already busy putting paintbrush to piano, but says he still has a lot to do finish the pianos before the festival.
“It’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of pieces. They require a lot of sanding and a lot of prep to get them painted, so it’s a different scale of work,” says the artist.
But he says the finished product will be well worth the time and effort, and he’s looking forward to seeing them set up in the garden, and hearing the music that will soon come from the painted pianos.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar
