Hamilton artist recreates Around the Bay 30K scenes with paintbrush

A Hamilton artist is recreating Around the Bay 30K scenes, on canvas, in time for the 125th anniversary of the race.

Dylan Swan is well underway on his project, named Art Around The Bay, which will be shown in 2019 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s Jean and Ross Fischer Gallery to celebrate Canada’s oldest road race. Swan is creating one painting for every kilometre of the race and he says he hopes to have 20 of the paintings done by March 25, 2018, the day of this year’s race.

Around the Bay first ran in 1894, three years before the Boston Marathon.

Below are a selection of the paintings Swan has created so far in the project with the kilometre markers, titles and descriptions as written by Swan.

Kilometre 17: Roadwork (the exit to North Shore Blvd. from Eastport Drive)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQuFiPbBSUL/

Kilometre 27: High Level

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQOyxcLFpis/

Kilometre 18: Aldershot Waterfront (North Shore Blvd., Burlington)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQNhtyil6Tm/

Kilometre 21: LaSalle Park (LaSalle Park, North Shore Blvd. East, Burlington)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSmAKxChNSs/

Kilometre 15: Halfway Home (runners run parallel to the Skyway Bridge, approaching the Burlington Canal Lift Bridge)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRelRBFhNd-/

“The landscapes are chosen for their visual appeal or relate-ability,” he says. “Each one [painting] is close to a kilometre marker.”

Swan and his father completed the Around the Bay 30K in past years but Swan admits that he “did not share his father’s natural gift for distance running, but the experience cemented Dylan’s deep appreciation for the community surrounding North America’s oldest road race.”

“I’m finding a deeper connection with the local community and the race community with each painting,” he says. Currently, Swan says he’s working on painting scenes from the industrial area of Hamilton.

Originals, posters and prints are available for the completed Around The Bay 30K paintings.