Pandosy turtle mural painted by UBCO class now complete

Photo: Brayden Ursel

Pandosy Street is a whole lot brighter with the addition of a completed mural of a western turtle on the side of a building at the corner of West Avenue.

UBCO art instructors David and Jorden Doody have been working with nine students on the project for five weeks, putting in a combined total of 500 hours of work.

The team says it was well worth the effort and that they're excited to show off the final project.

"The whole team is feeling fantastic. The students are excited, Jorden and I are excited, the community is excited. We’re so amped that this afternoon we’re going to be able to share the unveiling of this new piece of art to the community that it now belongs to," smiled David.

The large-scale painting didn't come without its challenges from Mother Nature.

“We were challenged this year with the rain, we lost eight days to rain. But the students rallied, we rallied and we were able to bring it all together on time. We haven't cut one corner, we put in a couple long days. The last four days that have been sunny have been 12 hour days," explained David.

“The students have had such a great experience and I think how we measure our success on this project is when we see our students coming back day after day, putting in their time and coming with smiles and energy and excitement.”

The painted turtle is now the third mural painted on a Kelowna building by UBCO students in the last three years.

The other murals being of a kokanee salmon and a blue heron, which are all excellent pieces of art, but something about this latest piece of work hits home for Doody.

“The salmon in our first year was meant to stand out with big shapes, big bold forms. We jumped into the heron, we went with a million layers of colour… and bringing this [turtle] in here, it touches my heart a bit for sure … we all came together like a team and it was just perfect synergy, so it’s my favourite.”

The Doodys have stuck to painting different kinds of locally endangered species along the streets of Kelowna, and will continue to do so in the future.

“Growing up here as a young person in the late 80’s, I used to catch turtles in this neighbourhood, so it was an opportunity to bring a nostalgic memory from my past into a mural. But also, it’s an endangered species and we need to bring awareness to that," said David.