Art Under Foot
A Hidden Gallery Beneath Your Feet
Whether a long-time resident or a visitor, the next time you are walking in downtown Vancouver, take a moment to look down. An exciting discovery is literally at your feet and provides an impressive visual tour of historical and contemporary Vancouver through beautiful mosaic tiles.
A Project 15 Years in the Making
Back for its 15th year anniversary, the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) launched the mosaic public art project aimed at beautifying downtown streetscapes.
Artists Behind the Vision
In partnership with the City of Vancouver and the Creating Employment Through Art co-op (CETA), the DVBIA commissioned accomplished mosaic artists Liz Calvin and Bruce Walther to spearhead the design and production of the mosaics. Calvin became passionate about mosaics traveling through Europe where she attended a mosaic art school in Italy for one year.
Craftsmanship and Community
Walther, a self-employed artisan for more than 15 years, has done numerous stained glass commissions for private residences as well as public art projects, residential tile work, and community mosaic workshops.
Designs Inspired by Downtown Vancouver
The concepts behind the twelve original tile mosaics — each measuring nine square feet and containing between 3,500 and 4,500 hand-cut ceramic pieces — reflect the culture, history, and geography of downtown Vancouver.
Months of Work in Every Piece
Each mosaic took approximately 160 hours to create. Calvin and Walther worked with CETA, a collective of artists who are residents of the Downtown Eastside, some of whom are challenged with addictions or mental illness, to develop the mosaics. The group’s purpose and philosophy is explained on its website:
“Just as CETA pieces broken tile together into a beautiful mosaic, CETA also strives to act as a catalyst for putting lives back together through art and enterprise.”
Honouring Vancouver Icons
One of the mosaics tributes Dal Richards — a Vancouver legend. With a career spanning over a half century, and with all of the charisma and style it takes to be a Big Band leader, Dal is an icon of Vancouver’s music scene. The success of his impressive orchestra, boasting an amazing five-night-a-week 25-year run at the Panorama Roof of the Hotel Vancouver and 25 years of live CBC National Radio broadcasts, has led to friends and fans affectionately dubbing him “Dr. Swing.”
Snapshots of the City’s Past
Some of the other mosaics feature historic Granville Street’s entertainment district awash in the neon glow of the 1950s, the Hudson’s Bay Company circa 1670, tributes to notable architecture including the 1929 nurse from the Art Deco Georgia Medical Dental Building, and the Princess Marguerite II, a historic steamship, passing under the Lions Gate Bridge.
