Exploring Vancouver’s Cool, New Street Murals

I love street art and whenever I travel, I always try to seek out cool street art and street murals, like when I was in: San Francisco, Camden, East London, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Cologne. So how pleased was I when my city launched the Vancouver Mural Festival last year?

I tend to poop on Vancouver when it comes to art and culture, compared to other global cities. There is a reason why we used to be known as ‘no fun city.’ But it’s been changing in the past few years, especially when it comes to street murals.

The Vancouver Mural Festival, the city’s largest, annual free public art celebration, launched in 2016 and featured 41 permanent murals, throughout Mt. Pleasant and downtown east side. This year’s festival added another 60 new murals throughout Mt. Pleasant and Strathcona area.

I missed last year’s launch as we were in New York. And I missed this year’s week long festival because I was in Europe. But jetlag, be damned. As soon as I had the energy, Sean and I set out to see all the murals – this year’s and last.

There were some really fantastic ones. My favourite one is a series called Lady Mermaids by artists Lani Imre, Bronwyn Schuster, Amanda Smart and Tia Rambara. It’s wrapped around a building, located on the corner of 4th avenue and Main street.

Here’s some more eye-catching favourites:

Luxurious Dreamscape Bubblebath by David Ullock and Douglas Nhung, located in alleyway of Main and 6th.

I didn’t find the ID on this one, but it’s located on JJ Bean’s wall, located on Main and 15th.

Street mural by Paige Bowman, located on Industrial Avenue by Main.

Scolder Dives for Berries by Carrielyn Victor, located on 4th by Main.

These were just a handful that we were able to fit in one afternoon, walking from 4th to 18th Avenues and then driving down to Industrial Avenue to explore the area by Main. We’ll have to head out again soon to check out more street murals in the downtown east side.

View more photos of our Mural Fest walk on my Flickr album. For a map on where all the murals are located, check out the Van Mural website.