Given that it’s the 100th year anniversary of the Remembrance Day poppy, Terry Schorn, Vice President at the Osoyoos Legion, had an idea to get some murals up on the legion building as a visual tribute.
Schorn connected with Kate Hobin (who at the time was the president of local art society WANA) to spearhead this project and get it completed before Nov. 11, on Remembrance Day.
Through Hobin, Schorn met with local tattoo artist and muralist Mavik, who started the mural last week on Monday. Mavik has also recently done the mural inside the Firehall Brewery in Oliver.
Mavik working on finishing touches for the legion mural. Neha Chollangi photo
Lyle Kent, president at the legion, said they are currently fundraising for this project. At the moment, they had a number of local businesses as well as their own members donate funds.
The project involved completing two murals on the building, one on the side and one across the front. The side wall is a sweeping landscape where the Vimy Ridge battle took place in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. Pictured are the silhouettes of soldiers walking across, planes overhead and a ship in the sea. Across the bottom are a field of red poppies.
Mavik completed the side mural over the weekend and is working on the mural on the front side of the building. The second mural is painted with the red and white of the Canadian flag and show two soldiers towering over and framing the entrance of the legion. Both sides are completed as Mavik added just the finishing touches today afternoon (Sept. 23).
“Giving these blank walls a touch of love of who everyone is, the meaning behind their business and their building and what they represent stand for, is just an awesome way to give back to people and it gives an attraction for all the travelers and visitors that you can come take photos by and then it’s representing your business,” said Mavik.
The mural artist, who also runs a tattoo shop in town, has been doing murals for about five years. He originally started “scribbling” on trains and malls but decided eventually to try to make a living out of it.
Before he moved to Osoyoos, Mavik was living in Chilliwack where he initially offered to do a mural at his kids’ elementary school. This is where the ball started to roll, he said.
After that, he started to do more and more murals through Chilliwack to Surrey. He also helped to start a mural festival in Chilliwack.
Mavik also has two more murals lined up here, one at the back of Heaven on Earth in Osoyoos as well as another for Pioneer Car Wash.
“That’s why I came here. That was my motive is to make a movement of murals and maybe start a little mini mural festival so that Osoyoos can take off and showcase what it’s about here,” said Mavik.
