A Colourful Diversion

While I organize photos for the third part of my series on public / private, I'm diverting with some colour - some of the art that I have found wandering Victoria the last while. Victoria has been cloudy a lot of the last few weeks, and the photos in my last post seemed drab because of it. It's time for some colour!

As a city known for its flowers, there's no shortage of colourful flower images to be found of Victoria. But in this post I'm showing some of my recent discoveries of art, and artistic scenes.

Mural of Emily Carr on the exterior of Island Blue printorium

Mural outside Wildfire Bakery

An amazing Little Library on Parry Street in James Bay. The Little Library is an almost complete replica of the house before which it stands. The handle to open the library is on the far right, with the words "Pull" on it.  The Little Library was built by Ray Young, of www.iusedtobeapallet.com. Yes - it was built from the wood from a pallet! It is an exact replica of the house, except for the steps which had to be shrunk in order for the door to open. It took Ray 6 months to build!

Barricade at a restaurant on Belleville Street

Eyecatching bicycle outside Bastion Books

Detail from a large mural by Jesse Campbell on a building site downtown, Blanshard Street

More detail from the same mural

And one more detail from the same mural by Jesse Campbell

Mural outside Floyd's Diner in James Bay

Shooting stars and camas, near Commercial Alley and Bastion Square. I have not been able to find the name of the artist. 

Installation in a back alley near Bastion Square. See the next photo for more detail,

Detail from the above installation.

Discovered on the back of a building downtown, on Gordon Street. Artist Steve Milroy "Wonderworks"

Mosaic tile installation titled "Diversity Pillar" by Sandra Millottt, in a park by Oaklands Community Centre. 

More detail from the same piece

One final image

Another hidden mural downtown, Fisgard Street

This is a massive piece of jade (several feet tall) outside a business that specializes in headstones and monuments, near the Ross Bay cemetery. This photo doesn't do the rock justice - its colours and texture were stunning.

The iconic colours of Fishermen's Wharf

Mural at Fishermen's Wharf

Complementary colours between the glass of this building and the shrubs outside. The building is in Dockside Green, across the Johnson Street Bridge.

Heron in the Oceans of Consciousness mural on Dallas Road. This mural is a new installation, hidden down the steps on the ocean side of Dallas Road, roughly near Oswego Street. Artist: Fua Collective

Detail from totem pole at back side of the Royal BC Museum, off Douglas Street.

Design by Butch Dick on a vent stack at the Clover Point pump station installation. Butch Dick also did some of the art work at the Unity Wall at Ogden Point. This design depicts a Sea Wolf, part of the origin story of the Wolf peoples - Lekwungen speakers - now known as the Songees and Esquimalt. In the explanatory plaque at Clover Point, special care is taken for the reader to understand that the stories, such as the origin story, are only to be told orally by those in the community to pass on the knowledge.

There seems to be more public art constantly being offered to the people of Victoria, so I will have no shortage of images for future posts.