Located on the side of Fairway Market, The Ocean has been landmark since it was commissioned in honour of International Year of the Ocean in 1999.
The iconic Sidney mural The Ocean is being restored this summer by its creator, First Nation artist IceBear.
The Ocean has been a landmark in Sidney since it was commissioned in honour of the International Year of the Ocean in 1999.
Located on the side of the Fairway Market in Seaside Plaza, the mural weaves together images of ocean life and scientific discovery on the West Coast.
During the original design process, IceBear said he worked with the Institute of Ocean Sciences to ensure The Ocean was scientifically accurate.
“You see all of these things from the deep sea to the beginning of the ancient mariners to the different devices like the sextant and the chronographer,” he said.
IceBear said the mural is rich with information from the long history of ocean science, and was designed in a way that it could be added to over time.
A new addition to the mural this year is the inclusion of the Canadian Coast Guard’s John P. Tully oceanographic research vessel, which operates out of the Patricia Bay coast guard base near Sidney.
Over the years, other additions have included depictions of ocean disasters such as the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and the 2011 nuclear plant accident in Fukushima, Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami.
IceBear said he wants his art to have meaning.
“I’ve seen a lot of wonderful paintings but they are just pretty paintings for me,” he said. “I have to have beauty, purpose and meaning. I think that would sum me up.”
Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith said it’s an honour to have IceBear back in Sidney “reviving this awe-inspiring ocean mural,” adding he appreciates IceBear’s “incredible talent and dedication.”
The restoration work, which began last summer, is being funded by a $5,000 grant from the ArtSea Community Arts Council, which provides money for grassroots artistic initiatives throughout the Saanich Peninsula and Greater Victoria.
Program director Kirsten Norris said the organization helps promote arts and culture programs for organizations and individuals.
“It benefits the residents, it really helps the economy and it brings local people and visitors in to enjoy presentations, art projects and reading series,” she said. “We think it’s very vital work.”
The project includes cleaning and repainting the mural, with IceBear mentoring another artist in mural-maintenance skills to ensure the knowledge stays in the region.
If everything goes according to plan, The Ocean should be restored by mid-July, IceBear said.
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