Haida artist Corey Bulpitt is in the midst of emblazoning the entre Pigeon Park Savings building with—you guessed it—pigeons as part of the 2017 Vancouver Mural Festival.

Create Vancouver Society, the organization behind the mural fest, has partnered with Hastings Crossing BIA, in partnership with BC Housing, Vancity, Pigeon Park Savings, PHS Community Services Society, and the DTES Market, for the major new Downtown Eastside public artwork.

Named East Van Pigeon, the mural will be a full building wrap of the savings headquarters, featuring the urban birds scattered in traditional Haida formline style as a kind of crest for the DTES community.

“Native people of the Pacific Northwest have used crest systems to identify their families, clans, and personal identities for thousands of years,” Bulpitt explained in the press announcement today. “I created the East Van Pigeon for the Urban People. It is my way of linking our traditional crest system using modern mediums (spray paint) and the pigeon, which is seen as a symbol of the urban environment. I believe it will be a mural that people in the community can connect with due to the link of modern and traditional and for the iconic imagery.”

Production on the Pigeon Park Savings mural will be celebrated with a community event on Tuesday, August 8, at 12 noon. 

Artists from Vancouver and around the globe will be transforming city walls across Mount Pleasant and Strathcona once again for the festival, which runs from August 7 to 12, for the second annual Vancouver Mural Festival. Other featured artists include Austria’s Nychos, Spain’s Cinta Vidal, and local artists like Fiona Ackerman, Andy Dixon, Johnnie Christmas, and AA Crew. 

The event builds to the big Mount Pleasant Street Party on August 12, featuring live art, entertainment, and more. 

For full details on Vancouver Mural Festival, see www.VancouverMuralFestival.com.