Artist Spotlight: Daniel Martelock and Ottawa's Bird Army

Ottawalls caught up with muralist Daniel Martelock at the Hintonburg Public House, FIFA's Canada–Bosnia game playing in the background. At the table, we scrolled through the unattributed murals archived on the Ottawalls site.

We came in hoping Daniel could help us fill in some missing artist credits. We left with that, a much better sense of what's behind one of the city's most recognizable street art motifs, and a short list of who Ottawa should be watching next.

The Bird Army

If you've spent any time walking around Hintonburg or Mechanicsville, you've probably run into one of Daniel's birds. Mostly chickadees and sparrows, kitted out in tiny helmets and chest straps, they've become something of a signature across the city.

The idea comes straight from how the birds actually live, Daniel explained. Chickadees and sparrows don't migrate south for the winter. Instead, they stay in Ottawa, sticking close together, hunting together, and keeping each other alive through the cold months. Come spring, they spread out to nest, but never too far from where they wintered, and they'll band together again the moment a predator shows up. "It's all about community and working together and protecting the community," he said.

Where to find it: 39 Lyndale Avenue

One of the clearest examples of the motif lives on a brick wall in Mechanicsville, where two house sparrows face each other on a branch, both in matching green helmets and straps. Daniel pointed out a detail that's easy to miss: a red plus sign inside a white circle on the left bird's helmet and bag, and a red minus sign on the right bird's helmet. "It represents how they help each other," he told us. Two opposites working toward the same goal, which is really the whole Bird Army philosophy distilled into one wall.

Mentor & Muralist: 379 Gilmour Street

Not every mural with Daniel's influence on it was painted by his own hand. At 379 Gilmour Street in Centretown, "We All Deserve a Beautiful Home: Renewing 379 Gilmour Street" was created in 2022 by youth participants in Operation Come Home's Paint It Up program, with Daniel mentoring the project rather than painting it himself. The result, spread across a concrete block wall and an emergency exit door, turns the space into a bright turquoise underwater scene centred on a yellow-and-gray submarine, complete with orange periscopes and four white portholes along the bottom.

Quick Hits

We closed out the conversation with a few rapid-fire questions.

Dream wall, no permits required: “I would actually really enjoy gathering a bunch of local artists and paint all of the exterior of the City Centre, even the parking ramp could use a bit of love.”

Strangest compliment received mid-paint: A passerby once told Daniel the birds he was painting were the best he'd ever seen. They were fish.

Hidden easter eggs in his work? Maybe. Probably. "If there is one, I wouldn't tell you," he said. So consider that an open invitation to look a little closer next time you're in front of one of his walls.

Who to watch next

We asked Daniel which Ottawa muralists deserve more attention, and he listed the following muralist:

- Martin Freundorfer, newer to the scene, Daniel's a fan of the turtle mural he just finished which you can find at 30 Rosemount Avenue in Hintonburg.

- Dan Metcalfe, a longtime fixture in the city. Catch his live painting sessions at the Beyond the Pale skateboard auction closings.

- Emily Darlington

- Ryan Smeeton

- Kalidan Assefa (Drippin Soul)

- Allan André

We'll be tracking down their work for future Ottawalls entries. In the meantime, both murals discussed here (39 Lyndale Avenue and 379 Gilmour Street) are documented in the Ottawalls archive, with credits now updated thanks to Daniel.