A new splash of colour now greets travellers at Saint John Airport – a vibrant 10-by-5-foot painting by local artist Fabiola Martínez, created through a remarkable collaboration that began hundreds of kilometres away in Montreal.
The piece, titled Area 506: New Forms – Montreal Edition, was painted this spring during Explore NB, a Destination New Brunswick showcase at OASIS Immersion in Montreal. Each New Brunswick city was represented by an experience, and Fabiola – invited by Envision Saint John – led an interactive art activation inspired by her mural at the Area 506 Waterfront Container Village in Saint John.
That earlier mural for the container village, co-created with more than 250 high-school students, has become a symbol of community pride.
“When people are part of something, it creates a memory,” Fabiola says. “They don’t just see art – they feel connected to it.”
She brought that same energy to Montreal, guiding more than 100 visitors – families, children and couples – as they helped paint the canvas over two days.
“We started with a few guiding lines, and from there it grew organically,” she says. “It was about flow and trust – holding hands and creating something together.”
The finished work, painted in acrylics that glow under black light, now hangs above the baggage belt in the customs hall of the terminal. Bright, abstract and full of motion, it reflects the artist’s signature blend of architecture, natural elements and light – a style shaped by her background as an architect and her roots in both Mexico and Canada.
That space will soon take on another layer of activity as YSJ temporarily uses the customs hall baggage belt for delivering luggage later this fall as a new, larger baggage belt is installed in the main arrivals area.
“For me, art is about connection,” says Fabiola. “This painting is a bridge between two cities – Montreal and Saint John – and between cultures. It’s about people coming together, creating, and feeling that they belong.”
