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From a striking exterior mural inspired by Innu tradition to an interior installation that brings together visual art, poetry and song, the balcony of Grenfell Campus’s Fine Arts Building has become a living showcase for alumni creativity, collaboration and community.

When visitors approach the Fine Arts Building at 91��ý’s Grenfell Campus, they are greeted by a vibrant burst of colour wrapping the exterior balcony. The work featured is titled, caribou coat continuum was created by visual artist and Grenfell alumna Melissa Tremblett during her residency with the Grenfell Art Gallery during the summer of 2023. The mural was launched on November 1, 2024.

Tremblett graduated from Grenfell Campus with a bachelor of fine arts (visual arts) in 2015 and a bachelor of science in 2011. She was inspired by traditional Innu caribou coats. The work incorporates patterns that flow continuously around the balcony in the same way decorative motifs historically wrapped around sleeves, hems and tails of the coats.

“I am honoured that caribou coat continuum was the inaugural artwork on the outside of the Fine Arts balcony, where I competed my BFA (Visual Arts) in 2015,” says Tremblett. “The installation was both personally and professionally significant: wrapping around three sides of the balcony like a coat wraps around a person, caribou coat continuum envelopes the face of the Fine Arts Building in an incredibly important Innu artform, rendered non-vital through colonial influences and interventions.”

Tremblett adds, “It has been so meaningful to me to engage with motifs as a way of reclaiming this knowledge and institutional space, and introducing the designs to Grenfell Campus visitors, students, staff and faculty.”

The mural has become more than a visual intervention. It represents the success of a graduate whose artistic practice now spans installation, performance, photography, beadwork and other mediums, and whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

“Hosting Melissa Tremblett’s work on the face of the Fine Arts Building has been such a meaningful first installation. I graduated from the Visual Arts program with Melissa in 2015, and in the year since the mural was established, her career has continued to flourish,” says Jane Walker, Grenfell Art Gallery Director. “She earned a place on the 2026 Sobey Art Award Longlist (Circumpolar), received Artist of the Year at the 2025 ArtsNL Awards, and was recognized with the 2026 Milestone Award from VANL-CARFAC’s EVA Awards. Melissa also created an iconic new installation for the 2025 Bonavista Biennale, dreaming of caribou, which continues her exploration of caribou coat motifs.”

Walker adds, “Establishing renewable public art spaces across the university, such as the Fine Arts Balcony and the new mural installation at the Pye Centre at Labrador Campus (Glenn Gear, TakKik rising,  demonstrates 91��ý’s commitment, not only to future commissions for visual artists, but also to our wider communities – presenting site-specific public art that is responsive to the place and lands where we operate.”

But the story of the balcony extends beyond its exterior.

Inside, the balcony features a multimedia public art installation that is a collaboration between visual artist and Master of Fine Arts graduate Erienne Rennick, poet Douglas Walbourne-Gough and singer-composer Deantha Edmunds that was made specifically for the space.

It features Walbourne-Gough’s poem Herd alongside Returning, a musical composition by Edmunds, integrated into a visual presentation created by Rennick. Together, the works invite visitors to reflect on place, meaning, community and belonging as part of the What is Somewhere? series.

“Over the years, the School of Fine Arts has worked with many Indigenous artists and creators, both in the gallery and across the campus. But we have always wanted our work towards Indigenization to be visible on the School of Fine Arts building as a public artwork,” says School of Fine Arts Dean, Peter Ride. “By being in such a prominent place, we hope it connects with Indigenous students and the Indigenous community on campus, while at the same time reaching visually beyond the campus to the wider city.”

The pairing of the exterior and interior installations has created something unique at Grenfell Campus: a public-facing gallery that celebrates artistic expression across disciplines while showcasing the accomplishments of graduates. One side of the balcony tells a story through pattern and colour; the other through words, sound and shared experience.

The initiative also reflects a commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for artists beyond the classroom. By showcasing alumni artwork at so prominently at a well-known Grenfell Campus building, it has become both a destination and a platform, connecting current students with examples of creative careers and community-engaged art practice.

Now, Grenfell Art Gallery is inviting the next generation of alumni artists to leave their mark.

The gallery is currently seeking expressions of interest from graduates of Grenfell Campus’s Visual Arts Program for new public artworks to be installed on both the exterior and interior balcony spaces from 2027 to 2030. Artists may propose projects for either location or develop connected works that span both areas.

The call reinforces the balcony’s role as a dedicated space for alumni creative output and professional artistic opportunities. To learn more about this opportunity and how to submit your expression of interest, please visit the .

As caribou coat continuum continues to brighten the Fine Arts Building and the interior installation continues to animate the space through art, poetry and music, the balcony stands as a reminder that creative communities are built over time. Through the work of alumni artists, what was once simply a balcony has become a visible expression of Grenfell Campus’s enduring artistic legacy and an invitation for future graduates to contribute their own stories to the view.