Murals are often pitched as a way of beautifying areas that are considered to be less than attractive.听
Places like back alleys, industrial quarters, Rutland.听
Ha ha! That鈥檚 a joke. Please don鈥檛 write hate mail.听
But the fact is, Rutland is the only part of the Central Okanagan that has an ambitious and ongoing mural program.
鈥淭he goals of this project are driven towards the beautification of our community, encouraging local artistic development, increasing walkability within the business improvement area, and inspiring youth through contemporary public art,鈥 the Uptown Rutland Business Association says on its website.听
Its murals are wonderful works of art, referencing the landscape, whimsical creatures, wild animals, Rutland鈥檚 South Asian community, cartoons, novels, an Okanagan summer鈥檚 day, the Okanagan Fur Brigade Trail, and the resilience of Indigenous people.
The Rutland murals adorn the sides of buildings such as thrift shops, vape stores, outreach centres, restaurants, credit unions, and banks. In short, they're painted on the mundane kind of urban landscape that鈥檚 familiar anywhere.听
But a new mural could one day take shape in a local area that鈥檚 already a considerable beauty spot. It could also be B.C.鈥檚 largest and longest mural, and become something of a real tourist attraction.听
But let鈥檚 hope the idea takes root before too long, because the potential canvas in question could otherwise become a target for graffiti vandals, the authors of those illegible squiggles and faintly menacing markings.
The recent completion of a new hiking and biking path between West Kelowna and Peachland affords spectacular views of Okanagan Lake, mountains, and the curve of the valley. It runs beside Highway 97, but is well separated from the busy road by a barrier and an elevation change, so it makes for a pleasant, reasonably quiet, and moderately invigorating stroll or ride.听
A real eye-opener for first time trail users is the height and length of a massive retaining wall, running for about 600 metres, that supports the highway. It鈥檚 never before been seen by most people, and it currently consists of a mostly blank surface interspersed here and there by places where some rudimentary paint repairs look to have taken place.听
But what a mural canvas it could be. The mind boggles considering what beautiful images could be painted along the retaining wall, making for a unique and contemplative setting where natural splendour meets artistic imagination in a way that鈥檚 unmatched anywhere else in the Okanagan.听
It鈥檚 easy to imagine the challenge and opportunity of painting a mural along the retaining wall as something that would pique the interests of many well-qualified artists. Given the wall鈥檚 length, it could also include a community component, where people are given paint and brushes and invited to have at 鈥榚r.听
Peachland has a volunteer group that supports the painting of murals on various town buildings and members have already sized up the highway retaining wall as a possible site for a new artwork. Undoubtedly there would be issues to address - legal matters, costs, design parameters - but potential complexity shouldn鈥檛 discourage the idea from at least being given serious consideration.听
The alternative, it seems to me, is to do nothing and invite the inevitable despoliation of the retaining wall by graffiti vandals, with the depressing and haphazard ongoing blotchy cover-up jobs such vandalism usually engenders. Say what you want about the spray can brigades, but they do tend to leave artwork alone, so a new mural on the retaining wall likely wouldn鈥檛 require constant maintenance.听
A highway is nobody鈥檚 idea of a thing of beauty. But this particular stretch of Highway 97 has a ready-made palette that could one day sparkle with life and colour, art and wonder. It could be a mural for the ages, if the moment is seized now.听
Ron Seymour is a Kelowna Courier writer.听