Looking for an artistic and FREE way to spend the day on Vancouver’s North Shore? This itinerary highlights only some of the creative and inspiring public art displayed in North and West Vancouver but takes you across four of our neighbourhoods and a stop at the art trail at Park Royal for good measure!
For more public artworks check out the City of North Vancouver Public Art Map or the District of West Vancouver.
Start your day in the neighbourhood of Lower Lonsdale, home to the Pinnacle at the Pier and Lonsdale Quay Hotelor if you are located in Downtown Vancouver, just a short 12-minute Seabus ride away. Grab a coffee at Shipyards Coffee at Lonsdale Quay, the coffee shop always has local artist’s work on display. The next stop is the Joe Bustemente Trumpet by Ryszard Wojciechowski in The Shipyards. Inspired by a figure in local history, Joe was a one-armed Chilean mariner retained in 1900 to blow his trumpet and guide harbour ferries through the fog.
Just a short walk up the hill is one of our most Instagram-able spots Studio in the City’s Fun Alley. Studio in the City tasked apprentice youths, guided by a local street artist, to enliven a public alley (located beside Buddha-Full on Lonsdale & 1st) creating a fun, inviting and unique space.
Steps away is Burgeoning by Illarian Gallant. You’ll find these silvery hanging leaves at the Wallace and McDowell building. They represent the importance of this site where electricity was first introduced in 1906.
Hop back in the car or get the 229 bus to Lynn Valley Village, where you will find clusters of artwork in and around Lynn Valley Library. Find Forest Lore by Dana Irving on the walls of the community meeting room located in the children’s section of the library, Heritage Storefront Memory by Gregory Henriquez on the glass facade of the library building, arboreous, after rodchenko, a life-size photo of an magnificent old-growth cedar.
