Vancouver Mural Festival's best of the neighbourhood: Marpole

Sep 3 2020, 6:11 pm

The Vancouver Mural Festival (VMF) is well into its 2020 celebration and this year, it can be experienced in more neighbourhoods than ever.

From now until September 7, artists will paint and unveil more than 60 murals in nine different neighbourhoods — adding to the vast amount of art that already decorates Vancouver streets.

By expanding to more neighbourhoods and creating more murals than ever, VMF organizers are aiming to support local artists, communities, and businesses while inviting attendees to safely enjoy nearby neighbourhoods.

Discover one of Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhoods by seeing the new VMF murals in Marpole:

Things to do

Discover the Marpole Midden (National Historic Site of Canada)

Marpole Midden

The modern community of Marpole is located on the unceded territory of the Musqueam First Nation. The Musqueam Midden cairn at Marpole Park (73rd and Cartier) represents recognition of the discovery of a massive midden site – c̓əsnaʔəm – that contains the remains of a Coast Salish winter village as well as shellfish remains and various artifacts from early inhabitants of the site, dating from 1,500 to 2,900 years ago.

Go for a walk along the Fraser River

Discover a local secret located along the Fraser River waterfront at Hudson Street south of Marine Drive. Enjoy the quiet Riverfront Trail that stretches along the Coast Mountain Bus property, with seating areas to watch the planes land at YVR Airport and the tugboats go up and down the working Fraser River. 

Musical Marpole

Enjoy free musical entertainment by local jazz, rock and instrumental artists on Granville Street at the Marpole Library every Saturday afternoon (1 to 4 pm) this summer until September 5.

Stroll to see Street Art

Marpole has a variety of unexpected street art pieces along Granville Street: 

  • The I Love Marpole word art sign sits at the entrance into the community at West 63rd Avenue. 
  • Check out the playful mural on the Marpole Branch Library (8386 Granville St.) or the colourful Fraser River landscape on the wall of the Marpole Starbucks (8002 Granville St.) Both of these murals were part of a collaboration between the Marpole BIA and the Emily Carr University of Art + Design.  
  • You can also spot one of Vancouver artist Ola Volo’s first public works, on an electrical box at the corner of 70th and Granville Street.
  • Be sure to view the permanent crosswalk installation by Musqueam artist Robyn Sparrow across Granville Street at the Marpole Safeway (8475 Granville St.). This artwork reflects the First Nations artistic and cultural heritage of the community. There are also several excellent examples of Musqueam weaving along the sidewalk in front of the Safeway.

Eat your way around the world

Whether it’s a world-class Japanese sushi bar, Thai, Chinese, Hong Kong, Indian, Vietnamese or sweet bubble tea, there’s a restaurant for every taste in Marpole.

Murals to see in Marpole

Vanessa Taylor

Vanessa Taylor’s VMF mural sits on the edge of a community neighbourhood and business. With the warm colours and common flora and fauna species, movement is created from the day to day routine to the warmness and safety of homes.

Her mural can be found at 8155 Granville Street (north wall, Pizza Hut).

Rachel Wada

Rachel Wada’s mural Waves was inspired by the iconic imagery of waves in traditional Japanese art, most famously popularized by Hokusai’s “The Great Wave”. She told Daily Hive, “I wanted to take what many people may traditionally be familiar with as “Japanese” art, and provide my own interpretation of it. As a Japanese Cantonese immigrant to Canada, I’ve always sought out representation of my own cultural identity.

“The white blobs of smoke that contrast and float over the overall composition are in reference to the “breath of fresh air”, with visual treatment that is similar to speech bubbles commonly seen in Japanese manga. This duality of Traditional vs Contemporary is a topic that I often tackle in my own personal work, and thought that it would be relevant in reflecting Vancouver’s prevalent immigrant and Asian community.”

Waves can be seen at 8646 Granville St (west wall, Ikura Sushi).

Jocelyn Wong

Jocelyn Wong is the designer, letterer and calligrapher behind Something Yellow Studio. Her mural for VMF 2020 is titled, Love All Your Neighbours.

As Wong explains to Daily Hive, “The added word ‘all’ to the familiar quote “Love your neighbour” serves as an important and timely reminder. It may be easier to choose which neighbours to actively love, but the true meaning of the original quote doesn’t exclude anyone.

“The surrounding flora showcase the diversity of the plant kingdom, which helps emphasize the beauty of loving people no matter who/what they are.”

Her mural can be discovered at 8337 Granville Street (north wall, Knights of Columbus).

DOWNLOAD THE VMF MOBILE APP to find the city’s 250+ murals including this year’s three new murals in Marpole. Visit https://vanmuralfest.ca/ and follow @vanmuralfest for details and updates for Vancouver Mural Festival 2020 (August 18 – September 7) 

Reminder: VMF Contest: Explore the nine VMF 2020 Mural Neighbourhoods. Post your favourite mural photos and tag #exploreVMF and @vanmuralfest on Instagram for your chance to win great prizes from all 9 neighbourhoods

Daily Hive is a proud media partner of the 2020 Vancouver Mural Festival

Daniel ChaiDaniel Chai

+ Listed
+ Summer
+ Public Art
+ Urbanized
+ DH Community Partnership
ADVERTISEMENT