Vancouver looking for artists for sandblasted art designs on sidewalks

Vancouverites in one city neighbourhood could soon be literally walking on a continuous strip of public art as part of a new program to sandblast art designs onto the concrete surfaces of sidewalks.

The City of Vancouver is looking for artists and designers to create art designs that will be transferred to steel plate stencils for sandblasting onto the sidewalks along Main Street in Mount Pleasant.

The program’s intended effect will improve the public realm by adding interest to the sidewalks while displaying the work of local artists.

“The goal of Mount Pleasant’s sidewalk art is to give the neighbourhood a unique character and provide each storefront with its own sidewalk identity,” reads the competition’s backgrounder.

Example of existing sandblasted sidewalk art in Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

In exchange for their selected designs, successful artists will be paid $300 and offered a prize from the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association.

The designs should be 20″ x 20″ (50 cm x 50 cm) in size and based on themes relevant to the local community, such as historic creeks, art, music, pop culture, and breweries.

Other stipulations include refraining from adding multiple layers to the design, such as inner circles, as details may be lost when the design is cut into the steel template. As well, designs should not incorporate any letters, numbers or other characters as the template may be flipped or rotated when sandblasted into the sidewalk.

A number of sidewalk areas around Vancouver already boast standalone sandblasted art, but this is one of the largest neighbourhood-wide initiatives yet for this type of public art form.

The deadline for design submissions is Friday, August 18. All designs should be submitted as a PDF to the City of Vancouver by email at [email protected].

For additional technical and submission information on the competition, click here.