Shoppers at Port Moody's Thrifty Foods can touch and see original artwork when they pay for groceries.
This summer, 20 Tri-City artists - emerging and established - volunteered their time to paint eye-catching designs on the bars that divide customers' groceries at the checkout of the Suter Brook store.
The project was the brainchild of Jillian Hull, a city arts and culture committee member, who noticed the shop didn't have any advertising on its bars. She asked the store manager, Darren Gardner, to see if local artists could use the double-sided dividers as a canvasses.
The idea took off, with Tri-City businesses donating supplies and services, including Port Coquitlam's Tri-City Paint and Decorating and AAA Aluminum and Craftsman Collision in Port Moody.
"The cashiers told me that even in the first couple of hours, people were turning to each other in line and talking about the bars," Hull said. "That was my biggest wish, that a little surprise and beautiful piece of art in an entirely unexpected setting would spark people to talk and connect with each other."
The participating artists are: Imogene Broberg-Hull, Paola Cervantes, Sandra Cervantes, Pauline Clarice, Rainer Daniels, Eric Davis, Denis Dowdall, Evelia Espinosa, Faith Holt, Siena Locher-Lo, Jay Peachy, Adrienne Peacock, Bernadette Rollin, Darian Simmons, Shelby Simmons, Jesse Tylo, Ariana Vaisey, Saskia Vaisey, Kimberly Venn and Sonia Vaz Mais.
