On my way to the Evergreen Cultural Centre yesterday I drove past Port Moody’s Arts Centre and had my first glimpse of the city’s latest Public Art. The sun had popped out so I grabbed the chance to photograph an astonishing blue-painted tree! The city is one of several local venues where Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos has been given permission to paint some trees a gorgeous shade of blue. He uses a biodegradeable paint that will not harm the trees and which will wash or wear off in a few weeks and it is his effort to draw attention to the aesthetic and environmental plight of trees and their importance to the world.

Already there is a letter to the editor in the local ‘Now’ newspaper complaining that we British Columbians don’t need to be reminded of trees’ importance. Some visitors to Port Moody library and City Hall where most of the blue trees are, express disappointment that their beautiful cherry trees will not look right. Never mind! For this one year let’s celebrate the unusual, the surprising and actually the splendid colour that they are now. They’ll look even more spectacular when the cherry blossoms come out some more.

At the ‘Mappa’ Exhibition Preview I bumped into local artist Judith Atkinson. She was enjoying Bettina’s show. I asked her if she liked the blue trees and it turns out they were the inspiration for an art piece she had helped create the other day. Artsconnect, our local Arts Council had organised a fundraiser:

The general public were invited to pay $10 each to watch 4 teams of 3 artists make 4 paintings during an evening. It would have been an interesting collaboration-in-action to watch. I was able to see the 4 finished artworks when I stopped in at City Hall/Library to see the other blue trees.

http://www.capuletart.com/blog/category/art

The link is to a youtube stop-action video of the far left painting being produced. The 3 local teams of artists comprised:

Team 1: Rainer Daniels, Sarah Ronald, Judith Atkinson
Team 2: Kris Kupskay, Rose Eysmond and Heather Anderson
Team 3: Masha Levene, Mandara Lebovitz and Tammy Pilon

Team 4: Vancouver artists       . Their bear painting was chosen the winner.