Railside Mural, Port Coquitlam

Some shots of the mural recently launched at Shaughnessy and Lions Way, bordering Railside Park in Port Coquitlam.

March events

From the Ground Up: The Making of Murals

Vancouver East Cultural Centre

1895 Venables, Vancouver

An exhibit of mural maquettes, scaled drawings and preliminary ideas leading to recent murals, such as The Russian Hall, Crossings, River of Crows, Through the Eye of the Raven, Point of Contact (Cuba) and others. (illustrated here the color and line maquettes for a recent mural in Port Coquitlam, bordering Railside Park) The exhibit runs until April 15th, and can be viewed either during the day (ring to enter) or evenings, prior to events/performances.

Also, Look up the newly launched website, documenting 40 murals in East Vancouver and the Downtown area, www.vancouvermurals.ca

This site provides illustrations and maps for several walking tours of the murals, as well as a phone number for background information of the pieces.

Recently installed panels that flank the Silk Purse Gallery, West Vancouver Arts Centre. This project was designed to link both the community arts and the City of West Vancouver Cultural Centre offices and studio space. The final work will be completed in September, 2011.

Russian Hall mural in winter

Recent photos of Russian Hall murals showing each of three wall murals. February 2011.

Globe and Mail article

Attached is an article about recent projects, including the Santiago de Cuba mural.

It can also be seen online at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/tom-hawthorn/muralist-turns-vancouver-into-open-air-gallery/article1934546/

Through the Eye of the Raven mural

Through the Eye of the Raven, a mural for the west-facing wall of the renovated Orwell Hotel on Hastings Street, covers close to 8000 square feet, and is likely the largest mural in Western Canada. The collaborative mural is visible from various locations in Vancouver. Attached are some updated photos of the work in progress.





Mural artists:
Jerry Whitehead, Richard Shorty, Sharifa Marsden, Haisla Collins, with assistance by Brendan Rausenberg.
project coordinator, Richard Tetrault.







The alley view, work in progress


detail, hummingbird and pattern motifs

A mural launch, which is open to the public, will take place on August 19th at 10:30 am at 456 East Hastings. Follow the signs to the event.
This event will also profile the new gallery space that will be set up on the main floor of the Orwell Hotel, to showcase urban aboriginal artists working in Vancouver.

Updates, 2010

‘What’s New’

In 2009, I coordinated Eastside Mural Projects, a series of four large-scale public murals commemorating aspects of Vancouver’s multicultural communities. Covering over 8000 square feet, the murals were painted by more than fifty participants over a 4-month period in the spring and summer to mark the 100^th anniversary of Britannia High School. The murals are located in various locations in East Vancouver. This includes the Russian Hall, at 600 Campbell Avenue in Strathcona, on the Adanac Bike route, at 2nd Ave. and Commercial Drive (Fratelli Bakery) and at Britannia Community Centre. More background information can be found at www.eastsidemurals.com

This year, I am overseeing another large mural collaboration in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Located on the west wall of the refurbished Orwell Hotel on Hastings, this 7,000 square foot mural will reflect the Urban Aboriginal community. Updates on this project soon.

Exhibitions, 2010:

‘Idea of North- Visual Variations’ (‘Norte-Un Concepto-Variaciones Visuales’) was inaugurated at the Peon Contreras Gallery in Merida, Yucatan in the spring of 2010. An 80-meter multimedia frieze, this traveling exhibit is by seven artists from La Raza Artists Canada. It integrates painting, drawing, printmaking, text and photography on Mylar ground, reflecting the collective artists’ perspectives on the north. This is the fourth Mexican project that i have participated in, continuing the focus on collaborating on large projects with an international scope.Photos from the opening and the works in this exhibition are attached.