A downtown Chilliwack mural has been restored to its former glory.
“It felt great to fix the vandalized mural downtown Chilliwack this morning,” said artist Sylvie Roussel-Janssens.
Here’s how it went down.
The mural, created on the Harvest Cafe’s north-facing exterior wall on Victoria Avenue, features powerful Indigenous-style images in bright shades of turquoise, orange and red.
It is bordered with local schoolchildren’s handprints, as an artistic gesture of hope for the community.
A vandal struck last August defacing the piece of public art that had taken months to create by Central elementary staff, students, and volunteers.
On Monday half a dozen community-minded volunteers came together, picked up their paint brushes and took restorative action.
Now it is back to “beautiful.”
“Six of us had it done in an hour and a half,” said Roussel-Janssens.
They effectively erased the tag, and repaired the damage.
She publicly thanked the repair-job volunteers: Nikki Rekman, David Shearer, Karen Ireland, Denice Girdner and Mary-Lee Mertz.
“You did an awesome job! Now the beautiful work by Central Elementary students and staff is close to what it was before,” Roussel-Janssens wrote. “Thank you also to Leslie Waddington, principal, for having all the materials ready to go.”
Central principal Leslie Waddington had this to say in a letter to the artists:
“You really are our new heroes! As I drove by today on my way home I realized how fortunate I am to live and work in a community like Chilliwack with people like you, who make such a difference.
“It really is those seemingly ordinary acts that truly are extraordinary. You modelled for our students what we constantly talk about—being a contributing and caring member of the community.
“The mural looks better than ever!”
READ MORE: Spraypainted tag on mural
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