The City of Pitt Meadows is apologizing for using an artist’s work after he expressly asked them not to.
Trenton Pierre is a professional artist who operates under the name Rain Awakens and has numerous public art projects to his credit.
He was not happy that the remuneration for the Pitt Meadows art project, to decorate hydro box, would be just $100, and asked the city not to use his work.
The city did use it, and with the wrong artist’s name attached.
“This is totally disrespectful from the City of Pitt Meadows. I was asked to complete a design for the Hydro boxes and spent hours on this design,” he wrote on his Facebook page Friday.
“I found out that we would be compensated 100 dollars after completing the design, so I sent this email to pass on the project – because of the sheer amount of time spent on this project. I was very clear to not put my artwork on the boxes. The city still proceeded to put my artwork on the box with someone else’s name on it.”
The city issued an apology the same day.
“The City of Pitt Meadows sincerely apologizes to artist Trenton Pierre of the Katzie First Nation for the unauthorized use and incorrect labelling of his artwork on one of the city’s Hydro boxes,” the city says in a release.
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“On behalf of the City of Pitt Meadows, I would like to sincerely apologize to Mr. Pierre and the Katzie First Nation for this unfortunate administrative error,” said Mayor Bill Dingwall.
City staff directed the artwork to be removed immediately.
Dingwall added the city will conduct a review to prevent another such error.
“The City of Pitt Meadows recognizes the importance of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples, specifically the Katzie First Nation, and acknowledges their important artwork, cultures and traditions,” said Dingwall.
“The City of Pitt Meadows values our special relationship with Katzie First Nation.”
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