A Star Blanket will soon drape over the shoulders of a University of Winnipeg campus building.

Artists Kenneth Lavallee and Annie Beach are leading a team that is painting a Star-Blanket-inspired mural on the exterior of the Helen Betty Osborne building. The building houses the Wii Chii Waakanak Learning Centre and the University’s ACCESS education program, as well as academic and community-learning programs.

Lavallee created the design for the mural. His Star Blanket Project has sites around Winnipeg, honouring those impacted by missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit peoples.

The Helen Betty Osborne building mural will be the first piece made in this year’s Wall-to-Wall festival presented by Synonym Art Consultation.

The painting of the mural starts today and will go on until August 20th. A block party will be held in celebration Saturday, August 18th from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the parking lot behind the building, at 511 Ellice Avenue.