Pitt Meadows unveiled a Canada 150 Mosaic Mural at the city’s Canada Day celebration at Spirit Square, and it was mounted this week on the wall outside of city hall.
The community art project celebrates Canada’s 150th birthday, showcasing icons and images representing the community.
The mural is one of several projects in Pitt Meadows that are part of an initiative to build arts and culture in the community, including a new city hall foyer gallery art space and a new Artists in our Parks program.
“All of our arts and culture projects are aimed at encouraging people to come together, enjoy their community, and appreciate the arts and creativity,” said arts and culture coordinator Susann Sigmund.
“The more we can get people participating, the more connected and engaged our community becomes.”
The Canada 150 Mosaic Mural is a nation-wide program including cities, towns, and villages from all provinces and territories creating individual community murals - 150 in total, made up of 80,000 individual tile paintings. The community submitted ideas on what the Pitt Meadows mural should look like, and the Mosaic Mural team created the design. Over 800 residents participated in the painting event at Pitt Meadows Day, each person painting a 10 centimeter square tile that became part of the mural.
The mural was made possible through Canada 150 grant funding from Heritage Canada.
The City’s new Artists in our Parks program was given the green light by Council in May. The program is a new initiative that brings art events to specific parks in Pitt Meadows and facilitates neighbourhood engagement. The program encourages community building and enjoyment of local parks, and offers art events for residents and visitors of all ages. Events may include visual art, performance, dance, music, theatre, film, community-engaged work, or temporary installations by artists or art groups. The program also allows artists to create and sell their works in specified parks with a city permit from May through October.
“This city-run program reaches beyond the traditional gallery by providing artists an opportunity to connect and share who they are, what inspires them, and allows the community to learn about the artist’s process, offering a glimpse into the creative world of an artisan” said Sigmund.
Council has also approved a new foyer gallery. The atmosphere of the open concept foyer lends itself to a designated gallery-like space for artistic works, and will be a community art space increasing and broadening opportunities for artists to display their work.
The required renovation of the space will also include a permanent glass display for the Katzie First Nation and Pitt Meadows heritage artifacts or other arts, heritage or cultural pieces.
“Council is committed to developing a strong arts and cultural services program for the entire community and providing new opportunities for artists,” said Mayor John Becker.
“The community and local artists have requested opportunities to increase and broaden options for residents to enjoy and participate in cultural activities and we are listening.”
The city will be working with residents for their input into an Arts and Culture Strategic Plan over the next several months, to ensure that the community and artists are part of the process. More information can be found at pittmeadows.bc.ca/artsandculture.