A little more sea to sky is visible in downtown Squamish, with a colourful new mural painted last week on Cleveland Avenue.
The mural incorporates a bit of forest, cloud, mountain and sky — everything that makes Squamish an inspiring place for local artist Jessa Gilbert.
“The goal with this piece was to show one of the pieces of what Squamish has to offer. What I love about Squamish is you have a rich, coastal rainforest but you also have an amphitheatre of mountains,” she said.
“The colours are lively and playful, and take a lot of inspiration from Alpenglow. The textures are from the forest and the alpine,” she said.
The massive new mural is beign unveiled Tuesday night on the side of the building that houses the rebranded Sea to Sky Art House.
Curator Caitlin Aboud, who organized the project, said the idea began when the owner of the building was planning to do some work on the exterior.
After getting approval for the mural, she applied for a grant from the Squamish Arts Council, but even with the group's help the gallery still came up short on funding.
“The biggest obstacle we faced was getting the funding because a mural that size costs a lot of money,” she said. “I really wanted to pay the artist properly — that was important.”
The project was on hold, until Gilbert was contacted by media company Great Big Story to do a video feature on her work. A partnership with Coors Brewing Company made the mural funding possible.
Gilbert’s style of art is bold colours, lines and abstract shapes that convey the constant movement and light in the mountains and forest landscapes that inspire her, as both an artist and an outdoor guide.
Gilbert said the mural is also a way to welcome the new energy and creativity coming into the community.
While her smaller-scale work is on display inside the building, she said working on a mural is a very different experience.
“It requires a different movement from your body. Instead of moving your wrist, you’re moving your arm or your whole body. Looking at the piece, you’re engulfed by it,” she said.
Gilbert has also painted murals up the highway in Whistler, but this is her first in downtown Squamish.
The mural was officially unveiled on Tuesday and will be one of the first things visitors see as they come into the downtown.
“It turned out perfectly, everything about it is so Squamish — the colour, the vibrancy, the way the mountains mesh with the water and the clouds, there is a lot of energy,” said Aboud.
