Artist’s intention is to blanket Vancouver in Coast Salish designs

Monday, October 22nd, 2018 11:41am

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Debra Sparrow

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By Cara McKenna

Republished courtesy of the Salish Sea Sentinel

Musqueam artist Debra Sparrow (θəliχʷəlʷət) has been saying for two decades that she won’t stop until the City of Vancouver is blanketed in Coast Salish designs.

Mostly, Sparrow has meant the statement as a challenge to increase visibility of her nation’s artwork in public spaces.

But now, she is literally “Blanketing the City”. The weaver and graphic designer has been working on a three-part series of large-scale contemporary murals inspired by Coast Salish textiles.

“I (first) said that about 20 years ago, and I didn’t know how it would unfold, or if it would,” Sparrow said. “I’m happy, because in talking about wrapping the City of Vancouver in the blankets, that’s happening.”

Sparrow’s Blanketing the City series is in partnership with the annual Vancouver Mural Festival and will consist of three murals in different highly-visible public areas.

The first mural was revealed in May on two large pillars of the Granville Street Bridge near the Granville Island Public Market.

The next covers the side of a building on Kingsway Street in East Vancouver, and was being created during the annual Mural Festival in August.

A third mural and another smaller piece are still being planned.

Read the rest of this story at the Salish Sea Sentinel at https://salishseasentinel.ca/2018/10/blanketing-the-city/