The Churchill Connection
Art, conservation, community & the magic of Churchill, Manitoba
Anyone who has ever heard of Churchill, a small northern Manitoba community of about 900 residents cradled on the edge of Hudson Bay, will likely know it as the Polar Bear Capital of the World.
The town doesn't give itself this title lightly. The Churchill region is home to one of the biggest polar bear denning areas in the world and sits directly on the path the bears follow to get from den to ice. This means that residents here share their land year-round with the mighty marine mammals — known in Inuktituk as the Nanuk.
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
When trouble comes in the form of a bear that is too interested in humans or consistently wanders too close to the community, it is put into "polar bear jail" — a special holding facility that keeps the bear safe until it can be transported further north for its own protection and that of Churchill residents.
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Painted on the old 20 x 75-foot military facility is a striking mural of a giant sleeping polar bear. This mural, like so many beautiful artistic endeavours, has a fascinating story — and this story begins 1000 km south in Winnipeg with a polar bear named Debby and an artist named Kal.
Kal Barteski will tell you that she was born an artist. She discovered the joy of paint at a young age and it became her way to experience the world.
During one fateful class in college, Kal went on a field trip to the Assiniboine Park Zoo with the assignment of painting a live animal. She found herself drawn to the polar bear enclosure that was then home to Debby, one of the oldest known polar bears in the world.
Kal returned week after week for years to visit Debby. She studied her movements, behaviours, and emotions and the way that light played on her fur.
When Debby died (at the age of 42), Kal says she felt the sadness deeply. Her heartfelt and emotional portraits of Debby landed her the opportunity in 2011 to go to Churchill with Animal Planet to see polar bears in the wild. The trip not only ignited a passion for conservation in Kal but set her on a path to becoming known around the world as the polar bear artist and a champion of the remote northern town.
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
There are no roads that lead to Churchill. To get here, you either have to fly or take the VIA Rail train.
Tourism is a big part of the revenue generated in the isolated town and visitors come for three major attractions: the Northern Lights (since Churchill is located under the Auroral Oval, it is one of the top places in the world to see the Aurora Borealis), the beluga whales (thousands congregate in Western Hudson Bay and the Churchill River every summer), and, of course, the polar bears.
Since her initial visit in 2011, Kal has visited Churchill nearly every year during "polar bear season" — that time in the fall when they gather on the edge of Hudson Bay waiting for the water to freeze.
In 2015, she started the Polar Bear Fund, a charity that supports small, local, and innovative projects aimed at helping polar bears thrive in an increasingly hazardous world.
"All the money stays in Manitoba, which was really important to me," Kal said. "And I have a special passion for moms and cubs and the byproduct of that passion is kids. I think if we are going to make a difference we have to start with that generation."
Through the fund and her artistic work, Kal advocates for greater polar bear understanding, research, and conservation.
In 2017, just as Churchill was experiencing a horrible flood that wiped out the railway, the town's only ground connection to the outside world, Kal worked with a company called SeaWalls on a community project in the town she's come to love.
Kal invited a group of artists to paint murals on buildings throughout the town.
"If you paint the buildings, Travel Manitoba has to send a whole bunch of people up to take photographs and that's good for the town. It's putting money back into the town. And now people pay for the tours and that's putting money back into the town," she said.
The murals span 30 km, reaching as far as the drivable road. Artists were inspired by their interactions with the community and the stories they heard about the issues facing the town and the land.
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
To prep for her own mural on the giant Holding Facility, Kal painted her garage in Winnipeg, which faces a back alleyway. This, too, inspired a community project called Back Alley Arctic. Read about that delightful project in our Winnipeg feature.
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Photo: Travel Manitoba
Kal's murals can also be found in the Winnipeg International Airport, as well as in the award-winning Journey to Churchill exhibit at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.
"There's actually two inside the exhibit as well that you won't see," Kal says. "They are for the bears only."
