paint your faith

It is with great pleasure to present to the city of Vancouver, the community of the downtown east side and the rest of the world with an amazing piece of collaborative art work created by Indigo (http://indigosadventures.wordpress.com/), Titi Freak http://www.tfreak.com/, Faith47 (http://www.faith47.com/) and Peeta (http://www.peeta.net/).

On April 28th, we hosted a reveal to press, First United Mission stakeholders and staff, the public and friends from the neighbourhood.  First Mission United (http://firstunited.ca/) announced an amazing building project that will help them continue the amazing work they already do in the DTES.

If you live in Vancouver or are visiting please get down to the corner of W.Hastings St. and Abbott and view this spectacular piece of art work.

Visit us at www.paintyourfaith.com and leave a comment and share this with friends for your chance to win a print from one of the artists.  We will be giving four people a chance to win one piece.

Paint Your Faith Vancouver Mural Completed

It has been a gruelling week for all of our artists, and our film crew who are here shooting a treatment for the potential documentary we hope to do.  We have survived the crazy weather out here, one of our DP’s made it threw a beer can to the head, and we still managed to get in a few good dinners, some drinks and got to know each other better.

Here is a pic just before the final last touches. Big difference from where we started just last week.

mural just before completion just a few more touches and a bit of work

What an experience it has been.  We started with an empty canvas, a messy and dirty lot filled with needles, garbage, weeds and completely neglected and we are now at the end.

Below is Indigo putting the final leaf and finishing the mural.

Indigo putting the final leaf on the mural and we are now complete

Below is where we have started. Titi arrived last Wednesday and on Thursday he helped frame the mural because Faith47 was arriving a day or so late. This is where it started.

Titi starts the wall

The development of the mural on the wall at W.Hastings and Abbott has become more than just an art mural. Things have become more about the community than we ever thought.

Last week Dominique, who is originally from Quebec was in the lot cleaning and removing needles, debris and leaves. She flew from Quebec, found a area in a city in need and has shown up to clean, make friends and create change. If anyone ever thinks that you can’t change anything as one individual well Dominique is a good example that you can.

Dominique our friend from Quebec here in Vancouver to clean up the DTES.

The progress and development of the wall has gone quite well. We affixed a tarp because the weather in Vancouver has been so unpredictable. One minute it is raining the next minute it is sunshine, then it rains again and so on and so on and so on.

Here is Faith47 in action on the wall and trying to finish her section.

Faith47 finishing up her section of the wall

Indigo working on her section of the wall. She has been amazing at her stencils and so good with her work.

indigo in action on the wall at W.Hastings and Abbott

Peeta has been smooth and chilled while doing the wall.  He does amazing work and is quite talented.

Peeta and his pinecones beauty and intellectual art

The wall has become more than just an art mural development project. The community has stepped up more than I would ever imagine.  We have Dominique and her friends cleaning up the lot. They took hundreds of stones and have created a peace symbol. They have moved so much garabage and debris. Bruce and Larry two local fellows have been pushing and asking for a community garden. Locals from the DTES have been coming by everyday and thanking us and congratulating us. I think the DTES is a misunderstood place because I’ve never felt such a sense of community like I have here while doing this project.

Here is a pic of some of Dominiques friends. What a great bunch of people from the area who want to see more for this area.

dominique and her team of friends from the DTES area

We are almost there and close to completion, but I believe our work will never stop in this area and somehow and someway we will keep this project living for many years to come.

Filming in the rain today, Faith 47 is almost finished her inspiring centre piece for the wall mural. Indigo’s 9ft image is finished of a girl blowing a dandelion, the fluff transforms as you follow it across the mural. Titi Freak is almost done his favela/people paintings and Peeta has started on his second piece. The fun part of the day was following Chor Boogie up 2 sets of ladders to film him painting the steeple of the First United Church Mission. He’s a bird on a wire, a writer on a ladder. You gotta come to Gore and E Hastings to check him working out on the rooftop in the next couple days.

The Paint Your Faith Vancouver empty canvas for us to paint

Just wanted to introduce the wall we are going to paint in a few days here in Vancouver. It is located at 55-57 W.Hastings St. a building which is owned by Lee Chu and her family. She kindly donated the wall but with a little bit of reservations. The city of vancouver has clauses that protects it from liability issues when these projects happen and rightfully so. We made sure our insurance named the building and also covered off any liability that Lee Chu and her family would have once we got going on her wall. We indemnified her from any liability and we have taken safety precautions and cleaned up the lot to make sure the artists will be safe.

The wall is located in the DTES, an area in Vancouver that has an eclectic mix of people from all walks of life. The wall has had graffiti on it in the past and Lee Chu had to spend money cleaning up the wall many times.

This time around when the wall is hit, it will be with amazing artwork created by our artists Titi Freak, Indigo, Peeta and Faith47.

We know this wall will do what the wall did in Toronto, it will lift the spirits of people who walk by it and will inspire individuals to look, reflect and put a smile on their face.

Finding a wall to do this type of work is sometimes the hardest aspect of putting together these types of projects.

We went through quite a lot of steps and challenges to secure this wall. We first applied for the Graffiti Management Program in Vancouver. The program was cut before we had a chance to be accepted. We then tried to go through the beautification program here in Vancouver called “Great Beginnings” we suggest people who need to improve their buildings to apply and get involved because it is a great program and Kristina Copepland at the City was an amazing help however we decided not to go with the program because of our timeline. The City needed a lot more time to facilitate this type of execution and production and we needed to do this before May because the artists were not going to be available and our sponsor wanted to have it completed before June.

Once we knew we wanted the wall it started with contacting the owner, then dealing with the city, then the empty lot owner and going through the process of making sure nothing was going to block our mural or get in the way for at least a year or more. There would be no point to do this type of project if the wall and area would be blocked within a few months.

This was Indigo’s dream wall and she now gets to be a part of it. For the artists from abroad, Titi and Faith47 have never been to Canada, it is amazing that Vancouver is their first place they will visit because it is just beautiful out here.

This wall is just not another wall, the painted bricks we coated with primer and have prepared for the artists is now their canvas and this is where their work will be done, just like any other artist who does it in their studio, however the big difference is this canvas is also the people canvas because it is outdoors in the community and accessible for those to see it develop. This form of art is pure, real, accessible and more public than other pieces of work.

The artists can’t wait to get on the wall and we can’t wait to document it.

Cheers

Check out the line-up for Paint Your Faith’s Ayden Gallery exhibit on April 24. Please drop by if you’re in the neighborhood! (Click “Read More” to see the event poster.)

Ayden Gallery | 88 West Pender, 2nd Floor | Vancouver | 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Faith47 | Indigo | Peeta | Titi Freak | Chor Boogie | Mediah | Elicser | Siloette | Dedos | Misk | Kaput | Scott Sueme | Phresha | Live Painting | DJ & Drinks | Free Admission

Here’s the event poster.