The City of Williams Lake has styled itself the
Mural Capital of the Cariboo and not without good reason. It was the local chapter of
Communities in Bloom which provided the initial impetus for a downtown mural project. The project was embraced by city council and got underway in (as best we can tell) 2002 with the first mural,
When Duty Calls, being placed on the fire hall in 2002. The artist was Dwayne Davis of
Davis Arts. Davis has been the artist for the majority of the downtown murals, which now total around 30, some inside but the majority outside.
One may check out all the downtown murals at the
Mural Tour.
Very peaceful and serene, the scene in this mural invites one in to sit in the gazebo and tarry awhile. This mural was done in 2008 by Dwayne Davis, with assistants Lee Sollenberger and Darren Thompson. It covers much of the wall, with a pastoral green background surrounding it.
Welcome to Our Garden
349 Oliver St., Williams Lake, BC V2G 1M4 Canada
Artist: Dwayne Davis, 2008
Funded by: Communities in Bloom
About:
This garden scene was inspired by one of Dwayne’s earliest trips to the coast where he saw Butchart Gardens for the first time. Those early memories, combined with input from Communities in Bloom, gave rise to the sanctuary now depicted on the wall. A garden scene from the Artist’s imagination.
Artistic Notes:
The mural was originally planned with a border all the way around, but it was a challenge to create the illusion of the brick receding back towards the painted gazebo. Dwayne achieved the “walk in” feel by extending the painted brick outside the border to the bottom of the wall, where the painting now touches the real parking lot cement. The painting is done in an impressionist style, with details blurred, and is meant to be gazed at from a distance. Artist Lee Sollenberger and friend Darren Thompson worked with Dwayne on this mural. Darren painted the black border surrounding the picture and learned to paint flowers. The three had a great time working on the mural together and Dwayne says that to date, this mural was the most fun to paint.
From Downtown Williams Lake