A match made in heaven — art and gardening!
This weekend, Esquimalt’s Urban Arts Tour enters its fourth year of pairing local artists with gardeners throughout the township.
The idea was born out of a COVID-19 pivot which the Esquimalt Community Arts Hub (ECAH) made when art shows began getting cancelled.
In an effort to allow for art to be displayed while people maintain proper social distance, the idea to put art displays in people’s gardens came about and now it is a mainstay of ECAH’s yearly programming.
Every year, people look forward to walking around the entirety of Esquimalt to see what is growing and what people have created.
This year, ECAH has expanded the Urban Arts Tour by involving artists who specialize in jewelry, fibre art and pottery which will be meticulously curated and displayed in creative ways throughout the gardens of Esquimalt.
All the way from the borders of Vic West to the Gorge area, there are 23 stops on the tour with 35 artists’ works on display.
The tour map can be found online or at select locations throughout Esquimalt such as Bunny’s Kitchen and the Eccentric Artist Studio and Gallery.
While this tour is going on, people can also stop by another one of ECAH’s projects which will be happening in tandem with the Urban Arts Tour — a live mural painting will be taking place on a pop-up wall at 533 Admirals Road.
The mural is being done by locally renowned artist, Kay Gallivan, who has done several murals in Greater Victoria and abroad. Her most well-known piece in Esquimalt is the Portage West mural located in the same living complex as Iluka Café.
The Urban Arts Tour is expected to garner hundreds of locals and visitors to Esquimalt this Saturday and having Gallivan painting a mural in parallel with the tour is the icing on the cake!
All the artists and garden locations are available online.
Urban Arts Tour of Esquimalt
- Where: All throughout Esquimalt!
- When: Saturday, July 29th, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
