The community is warmly invited to join artist Emily Gray at the Iris Griffith Centre on October 10 and 11, 2009 to help contribute to her unique Living Mural art installation. 

This innovative mural covers three walls of an outdoor hut.  Each wall represents a different part of the water cycle - precipitation, run-off, and evaporation. The mural features unique mosaics of textured terracotta tiles designed as a surface to grow vegetation. Rainwater collected from the roof will funnel water to the plants growing on each wall. The Living Mural will showcase the integration of plants into architecture and will be a creative place for plants and community expression to flourish.

The community has already helped contribute to this wonderful new art exhibit.  Residents of all ages from across the Sunshine Coast submitted their expressions of water and the role it plays in our lives and our community - everything from poems, stories, memories and thoughts, to photographs, paintings, drawings and collages.  A cross section of these water expressions were printed permanently onto the wall tiles of the precipitation wall.

Two exciting upcoming events will provide further opportunities for community members to help create the Living Mural.

Saturday October 10, 2PM-4PM: Help Build a Wonderous Waterfall! Emily's third mural wall (run-off) will include a waterfall, composed of rock and other found objects, such as glass, ceramic, beads, shells, wood, bones, etc. The rock work will make up the sides of the waterfall and the found objects will be in the centre where water flows. Community members are invited to help collect objects and bring them to the Centre.  The objects should shine and include blue, green, gray, and white colours.  Join us at the Centre on October 10 to help build the waterfall, or drop off the objects at the Centre before the 10th to allow them to be included in the art work.

Sunday October 11, 1PM-3PM: Help Plant the Living Mural!  Join us for a short hike in the Ruby Lake Lagoon Nature Reserve to collect mosses and lichens for the living wall.  After the hike, we will return to the Centre to start work installing the collected plants between and on the tiles of the Living Mural.

About the Artist: A talented emerging artist, Emily Gray recently completed her fourth and final year at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and has created a variety of green wall prototype designs. She returns to her Sunshine Coast home in Egmont each summer. Emily’s Living Mural Project is the latest in a series of nature-related art displays at the Iris Griffith Interpretive Centre.

The Iris Griffith Centre Living Mural Project is generously sponsored by Environment Canada EcoAction Community Funand the Province of BC.