The Breadwall: ceramic mural by David Gilhooly

If you live in Calgary and love to travel, you might have passed by this ceramic mural on your way to the passport office in the Harry Hayes Building. My eyes were opened up to the literal as well as the figurative meaning of this work of art on the way to renewing my own travel document recently.

The clay work, entitled The Breadwall, was created by David Gilhooly, a California-born artist who spent some time teaching ceramics at the University of Saskatchewan. It was there that he advanced his ideas in funk art to challenge the seriousness of the art world and made a parody of ancient civilizations, politics, and culture through his FrogWorld project. This irreverent amphibian planet was populated with Egyptian kings such as FrogTut, and historical figures such as FrogWashington and FrogVictoria.

The Breadwall was installed in the Harry Hayes Building in 1979. David Gilhooly died in 2013, aged 70.