Blue Trees public art pigmenting party will bring attention to deforestation

by Amanda Siebert on October 19th, 2015 at 3:16 PM

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Artist Konstantin Dimopoulos is concerned we might not be seeing the forest for the trees when it comes to the effects of deforestation.

In an effort to create awareness about the world's dwindling forests and resulting climate change, he's launched an initiative called Blue Trees.

Dimopoulos uses an environmentally safe, water-based natural blue pigment to paint the trunks and branches of trees in urban environments to draw attention to greenery that we often forget about.

"Trees are the lungs of the Universe... and... by pigmenting them blue in creative and unexpected public places, I capture people's imagination and thinking and bring attention to the preciousness of trees to our everyday life," says the artist of his project.

The first trees painted in the Lower Mainland were in Port Moody and Richmond back in 2011, but the initiative was revived earlier this month as part of the Vancouver Biennale.

Free public events were held in New Westminster, where volunteers joined in to help paint trees along Columbia Street and outside City Hall. This past weekend, school groups helped paint trees in Squamish's downtown core.

Since it began, the Blue Trees initiative has spread from North America to Europe and Australia, and was awarded the 2014 UK Climate Week Award.

The next public event will be held outside Park Royal Mall on Saturday (October 24). Dimopoulos has teamed up with Simons, a Canadian fashion retail giant that opened its doors last week, to bring North Vancouver the largest Blue Trees project in the history of the initiative.

Members of the public are invited to participate in transforming the commercial hub into an eco-friendly major public artwork. More than 80 trees lining Park Royal's south parking lot will be painted, with 175 potted maple saplings being offered as gifts to volunteers to commemorate Simons' 175th anniversary. Participants will also receive a free T-shirt.

For more information, check out the Vancouver Biennale's website.