Brand New Murals Debut in Vancouver
Part One of a Two-part Series
In Heidelberg, Germany there once lived a young boy named Karl Shultz and his mother, and together they ran a bed and breakfast. Their beautiful home near the Black Forest was a tourist town where people would come to celebrate Oktoberfest, visit the local castle and enjoy the culture year round. Murals on the shops depicted (and still do) beer steins, girls in dirndls, boys in lederhosen and especially, the beloved edelweiss flower. After World War II, Shultz, then gown, immigrated to Chemainus, Canada, a very small town on the southeast side of Vancouver Island. A lumber mill was the main employer, so when it began to fail in the late 1960s, it was devastating to the whole community. Shultz, himself had worked for the mill for a time before becoming a successful furniture maker. He had recently traveled back to Europe and was impressed with the murals he saw in Romania. Envisioning a new life for Chemainus, he petitioned the chamber of commerce to focus on tourism as the path toward a new economy. At the center of that plan was the idea to paint murals all over town to attract new visitors. “The mural themes were based on a book and photographs by Olsen (1963) entitled ‘Water over the Wheel,’ a history of Chemainus, and attempted to represent the ethnic, economic and social history of the region,” recorded Dr. Rhonda L. Kosta who has written extensively on the use of murals as a tourism strategy. Shultz had seen from his own upbringing and travels that visitors want to experience a town’s uniqueness, including its historical heritage. Shultz’s plan was eventually accepted and did indeed transform Chemainus into a thriving community.
This was the story Jerry Rolling shared with his weekly walking group (mainly a bunch of local realtors) as they regularly walked the Waterfront Trail. Rolling had also lived in Vancouver B.C. and was familiar with the revitalization story of Chemainus. “It was like being pecked to death by a duck,” recalled Rolling, founder of the Clark County Mural Society. After sharing the story with fellow walker, Nikki White, she just wouldn’t leave him alone, convinced it was a good idea they could bring to Downtown Vancouver, Washington. As realtors, they understood the changing landscape of older parts of the city and wanted to help re-energize it. “Nikki is short and polite, but she never gives up. She is an ideal partner,” Rolling told me. In 2004, the Clark County Mural Society (CCMS) was organized with support from the Rotary Club, the City of Vancouver and other local donors. An English immigrant himself, Rolling somewhat reluctantly became Vancouver, Washington’s Karl Shultz. 2005 was the year of their first project.
Read the rest of this article in the full digital issue below.
Connect with artists Travis London and Sarah Hunter on Instagram: @deepgreenarts, @alittlegreybird
Go here to read Part 2 in our series on brand new murals debuting in Clark County.
