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Victoria’s mural project wraps up with a brewery party

The ‘Concrete Canvas’ project had 16 artists painting around the Rock Bay neighbourhood
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Ellen Rutt works on her mural at the corner of Bay Street and Rock Bay Avenue as part of the City of Victoria’s “Concrete Canvas” project. Nicole Crescenzi/VICTORIA NEWS

Thirteen buildings across the Rock Bay area of Victoria are looking a lot more colourful.

The City of Victoria’s “Concrete Canvas” project wrapped up Saturday night with a backyard celebration behind Hoyne’s Brewery, at 101-2740 Bridge St.

A beer garden featuring Hoyne, Moon Under Water and Driftwood beer, as well as komboucha, live music and food welcomed neighbours to celebrate the work of 16 local, national and international artists who have been painting murals in the area for two weeks.

“I think its a great area, it’s a neighborhood a lot of people in Victoria aren’t that familiar with,” said Joe Weibe producer of Victoria beer week, who stationed the beer garden. “It’s great to celebrate Rock Bay culture and promote that maybe there’s a lot more going on here than people realize.”

RELATED: Local and international artists paint murals across Victoria

Walking tours led people around the neighbourhood to see the murals, and a mural workshop led by Kay Gallivan helped people understand the mural making process.

“It’s turned out really well, I’m really excited to see the murals that have come together in the last couple weeks,” said Nichola Reddington, senior cultural planner for the City of Victoria. “It’s beautified this neighbourhood and connected artists with businesses, it’s connected people that live here or work here, who get to see their neighbourhood in a new light.”

Artists came from across Victoria, Canada and the world in a unique effort to bring different artistic styles together.

“I think it’s amazing, I hope Victoria does this again next year,” said local artist Jackson Butchart, whose mural featured sharks and corals.

ALSO READ: City of Victoria looking for mural artists to work in Rock Bay

Ellen Rutt, travelled all the way from Detroit, Michigan, to create her abstract piece which she said is based on a quilting process.

“I feel like any time you bring public art to a neighbourhood or space, it’s a way of articulating that the space is cared for,” Rutt said. “It means you’re spending time and investing money into a particular neighbourhood in a new way, so I think it’s clear that there’s something about this area that they’re really trying to bring new attention to.”

For more information, you can visit victoria.ca/concretecanvas

nicole.crescenzi@vicnews.com


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