Global & local: Graffiti artists & muralists bring world-class art to the Fraser Valley at the Chilliwack Mural Festival

Don't take for granted having ‘Chilliwack’ mentioned in mural conversations along with Los Angeles, Paris, Rotterdam, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Bologna, and Miami

It’s sometimes easy to take for granted what is seen around the community every day, so it’s also sometimes important to get up to 30,000 feet for a little perspective.

As August summer fun, festivals and events hit the Fraser Valley, the Chilliwack Mural Festival is front and centre with daily events, tours, live painting, all culminating in the main two-day festival on August 16 and 17.

This isn’t simply a creative, fun, interactive, inspirational summer festival that rolls into town for a week or so then rolls out. This is inspirational local artists as well as world-renowned mural painters flying in to little ol’ Chilliwack to create permanent works of art for the community and tourists to enjoy.

“I want people to be inspired by the murals, and feel proud of their city," Chilliwack Mural Festival founder Amber Price said. “I love seeing people travel on foot through our urban core, viewing art and taking photographs of areas that they would usually avoid. And more than anything, I want our youth and creative class to see that Chilliwack is an awesome place that values culture, art, music, great food – a place that they should stay and contribute to."

I’ve been busy lately, but already have seen inspirational work in the couple of times I’ve been downtown. In July, I stopped in to a small gathering in the Nowell Street parking lot between Griffin Security and the thrift store where I had a beer and chatted with French graffiti artist Aéro before he got on a lift to put the finishing touches on his massive piece. A convivial down-to-earth guy who happens to be a massive talent with works are all over France from La Seyne-sur-Mer in Provence to Bergerac to Bretagne to Calais, but also in Latvia and Italy and, now, Chilliwack.

Then there is Andrew Hem from Los Angeles whose introspective piece in District 1881 on a south-facing wall by Sol is an example of his ongoing body of work inspired by his Cambodian heritage. Hem worked for Disney for several years and has a following of more than 100,000 on Instagram.

Most recently, I stopped by the wall of Chilies Thai Cuisine in front of the patch of grass by where mysterious Parisian graffiti artist Temponok began and finished his latest ethereal wonder using his signature image, the bubble. In this piece he uses his delicate spheres to reflect the face of the – maybe ironically – Solid Rock Church.

And while world-class artists in Chilliwack is something to take one’s breath away and to humble us while making us proud of the community, even if they weren’t here, the local or otherwise Canadian artists present are marvels themselves, incredible creators blessing the community with their work in a way that makes it hard not to walk by every blank wall in the city and see a possible canvas.

There’s Megan Oldhues from Toronto as well as Anaïs Lera and Tallest Cree, both from Vancouver. Getting even more local is Kayla Neufeld Gowans from Agassiz whose art was on display at the Odlum Brown Art Gallery at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre in May and June.

And yes, the ‘Wack is represented as well with three local muralists: Tsimshian artist Corey Moraes, outdoor enthusiast Jack Hendsbee, and self-taught painter Connor Kouwenhoven.

“It's wonderful to see people enjoying a world-class gallery of free, accessible outdoor art in downtown Chilliwack,” festival founder Amber Price said.

Past festival works live on

It’s really remarkable when you think about it. Last summer I did some very low-level volunteering with the festival before the main event meeting with Amber, a friend of mine. 

I first met Sophie Mess while she painted flowers in an alley off Princess Avenue. I guarded her paint cans as she went to get a sandwich. I hung out with Fio Silva who painted her unique birds on a wall in District 1881 and then on a retail building at the corner of Yale and Victor. I chatted with Nean whose massive abstract piece adorns a west-facing wall in the parking lot behind Service Canada on Wellington. 

Fio is from Argentina and has painted murals in Italy and South America and all over China. Nean is a largescale artist from Brussels known for pieces in France, Sweden, Ireland, Greece. Sophie is a UK-based street artist whose website includes her pieces painted in Belgium, Bristol, Rotterdam, London, Miami and, yes, Chilliwack. 

Then there was Leon Keer whose angel/devil teddy bears are a local and tourist favourite on Mill Street who is a world-leading Dutch 3D street artist (with 182,000 Instagram followers!) known all over the world for his hypnotizing creations. He’s also just a really nice humble guy who I was able to chat with last August. 

Juanjo Surace, however, was my favourite. Grizzled yet grinning, hard-smoking but soft-spoken, Surace is a true artist capturing notions of political subservience to technology with lightness and laughter, expressing visions of a non-dystopian artificial intelligence takeover of the planet where humans are eliminated and the robots live with the birds and the bees and the plants in harmony. Before he left, he gave me a small print of a painting of his that was so perfect and personal. It was an image of a broken man labouring away over a typewriter with an ogre on his back, looking at its watch as if to say, “Hurry up, time to go.”

This is all in Chilliwack. A remarkable display of art that people should and will come to visit from across the Lower Mainland and beyond for many years to come.

I am not one prone to hyperbole, but this is an unparalleled addition to the city, to residents, to tourists, artistic works of the highest quality. Downtown's murals reflect an investment of more than $300,000 from private donors and sponsors, fundraisers, as well as from provincial and federal grants.

To date, the City of Chilliwack and the Downtown Business Improvement Association have also made modest contributions.  This is a community led initiative, now under the umbrella of the 50 year strong Chilliwack Arts Council.

The Chilliwack Mural Festival website is a great place to get all the details, including the daily schedule of events, as is social media, Facebook and Instagram.

This past weekend was an intimate alley concert behind The Book Man next to a 2024 Juan Surace mural, and the daily events continue every evening this week with the big event Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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Paul J. Henderson
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