Mural capturing dogs of Gastown may live on past the neighbourhood's retail reopening

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       The Dogs of Gastown mural was getting its final touches today--just in time for the boarding to come off the windows of Parliament Interiors tomorrow.

      The artist Iamextinkt became a fixture outside the 115 Water Street store during COVID-19 lockdown, creating a meticulously painted portrait of the neighbourhood's four-legged friends each day.

      For the home-furnishing store's co-owner Colette Soros, the image has come to represent the way "just like a pack of dogs, the community of Gastown stuck together during these difficult times".

      "We've been here 10 years and I didn't know my neighbours before and we knew we were all in it together," she tells the Straight from the store, which opened its doors this week with social-distancing and health measures in place. "We made it through."

      The mural joined many others coordinated by the Gastown BIA to brighten the boarded windows that went up mid-March as retail shut down in the neighbourhood. 

      Also well known as a tattoo artist who creates images of pets and hyperdetailed fauna, Iamextinkt approached Parliament and came up with the idea of painting the local pooches, with Parliament's team helping to track down each pet. Soon the idea took off through word of mouth and the project was being sent dozens of digital photos of local dogs.

      "People would walk by with their dog, there are store dogs--Fluevog has like four of them--and I'd get photos from our clients who live in Gastown," Soros explains.

      Now the pack of about 30 canines is done, complete with a variety of big and small breeds and names for every one--Rufus, Dylan, and Daisy, to cite a few. And with the boards coming down--and the store resuming normal hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 12 to 5 on Sundays and holidays--the artwork may become part of a bigger BIA-hosted exhibition of all the murals that were created during the summer. After that, the piece will go back to Parliament Interiors, Soros said.

      Left to right, Parliament Interiors owners Colette Soros, Tina Lee, and Craig Parkes stand by the mural before the boards on their windows come down.

       

       

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