Jeff Maltby - Victoria's Muralist

When I was downtown on the weekend I chanced to park near this Jeff Maltby mural, one of three on the side of a nearby building. I was struck again by the remarkable skill of this artist and our great good fortune to have such talent displayed freely on our downtown streets. Mr. Maltby has been commissioned several times to create murals in different parts of the city. Most of them have been featured in this blog over the years and I plan to do a little retrospective over the next week.

Jeff Maltby 2

Here is the center panel/window in the Jeff Maltby triptych on the corner of Fort and Langley Streets downtown. Among the many features I love about these Maltby murals are the details. For instance, you have already glanced at this photo but did you notice the hummingbird feeder? And the hummingbirds? Click the photo to make it larger to pick up on the details. There are also some bubbles in the air - look at the mural photo I posted yesterday and you will see the kids are blowing bubbles.

Jeff Maltby 4

Here is the triptych featured in the last three days' posts in its entirety. On the left is a photo of the artist, Jeff Maltby, taken in 2012 by Globe and Mail photographer, Chad Hipolito. We'll have a look at Mr. Maltby's other murals over the next week or so.

Jeff Maltby - Chinatown Murals 3

Above is a detail from Jeff Maltby's third Chinatown mural just a few steps away from the two previously posted. I like this detail because these kids just look so nice, especially the one on the right looking right out of the picture at us. Below we can see the whole mural - a tour de force trompe l'oeil.

Take few steps back to see this amazing mural in context. Some parts of it, like the sign for the restaurant on the upper right are actually real.

I think it's a tribute to this artist that although these paintings are right at street level and you can walk right up to them and touch them they (and the other Maltby murals) remain free of graffiti or other gratuitous damage and these are nine years old.

Jeff Maltby - Public Works Mural

Here is the final Maltby mural in the little retrospective we've been having. This one is on the side of a building in the City of Victoria's Public Works yard, only a stone's throw from the recycling mural viewed yesterday. It's another of Maltby's time travel murals with the older scene on our right and the modern view on the left. The title is "Public Works Through the Years". When I look at these paintings as a body of work, what comes to mind is Diego Rivera's many murals in Mexico City. Although Maltby's murals lack that revolutionary fervor, in their own quiet way they too tell some of the story of this place. Would that there were more of them.

Jeff Maltby - Chinatown Murals 1

On Fisgard Street, Victoria's Chinatown's main street, there are three Maltby murals. The one pictured above may be found opposite the Chinese Public School. It is a group portrait of the Lee Mong Kow family of Chinese immigrants in 1905. Maltby always manages to bring his characters to life with thoughtful, friendly expressions.

Another Maltby

Here's another mural by local artist Jeff Maltby. This one is on one wall of Ellice Recycle Ltd., a recycling company near Point Ellice. At 152 feet (about 46 meters) wide this is probably Maltby's largest work. Even with my wide angle lens at its widest I wasn't able to get the whole mural in though the photo above has about 90%. (Of course I never thought to use the panorama function of my camera, which would have been perfect for this!) As usual, the artist offers us a historical perspective, looking at recycling in the Victoria's past. I like everything this artist does and I hope that more of our city's firms will commission him to decorate their buildings with our history seen through his eyes.

New Maltby Trompe l'Oeil

I must first thank regular visitor and commenter here, Dean Lewis, for alerting me to a new work by local muralist, Jeff Maltby. I have featured some of his remarkable trompe l'oeil in the past where it is located in Chinatown. Above is one panel of a new Maltby triptych that graces the wall of the Siam Restaurant near the corner of Fort and Langley Streets in downtown Victoria. Below is a wider shot showing all three panels. Victoria is lucky to have an artist so talented and to have patrons intelligent and generous enough to sponsor such works and share them with the public. They are a delight to the eye and I can only hope that ever more of Victoria's walls will be so beautifully and interestingly decorated in future.

Jeff Maltby - The Ellice Recycle Mural

This Maltby mural dwarfs the ones seen so far - it's 152 Feet wide (46 meters). Though we tend to think of recycling as a modern practice, in this mural we are reminded that people have been recycling for a long time. Perhaps we just do it a little more conscientiously now. As usual there's lots to see in a Maltby mural.

Maltby Trompe l'Oeil Mural

Victoria's Chinatown continues to offer some splendid street scenes. This one, a mural by Victoria artist, Jeff Maltby, is on Fisgard Street very near the Chinese Public School and the Lee's Benevolent Society Building, both of which are pictured in earlier posts on this blog. I love the way this mural is so beautifully integrated into its environment. It's actually on two walls, at right angles to each other and I have included a wider angle shot below that shows the mural in context.This mural is not only remarkable for its visual slight-of-hand but for its historical contribution to our appreciation of Chinatown and for its many charming details, one of which is below.

Jeff Maltby 3

Here is the third panel of the mural triptych on the corner of Fort and Langley Streets downtown. I would have found this less accessible than the other two panels were it not for an article in the Globe & Mail that describes it as, "...three people shouting from a window, an homage to a scene from the movie It’s a Wonderful Life." Click the link to read the article - it has some good background information on Mr. Maltby and his murals.

Public Works Through the Years

I think Victoria muralist Jeff Maltby's works are wonderful and here's another one I haven't shown you before. This one, entitled "Public Works Through the Years", graces an outside wall of the City of Victoria Public Works yard on Bridge Street. It shows city works crews engaged in various jobs throughout the history of the city from the past (on the right) to the present. If you click on the photo above you will see a much larger version of this mural, should you wish to see more detail.

Lee Mong Kow Family 1905

A half block east of the Gate of Harmonious Interest (yesterday's post) are a group of murals by local artist Jeff Maltby. He's a remarkable artist and if you ever visit Victoria take the time to seek out his many murals in this city. Pictured above is one mounted on the wall of a parking arcade on Fisgard Street, just opposite the Chinese Public School. The inscription (blocked in this photo by the tree) reads, "Lee Mong Kow Family 1905". It's a wonderful group portrait of a Chinese immigrant family. Click HERE to see more detail and enjoy the distinct expression on every face.

Chinese Public School

Another visit to Victoria's Chinatown, starting with two paintings by Victoria artist Jeff Maltby. The painting above depicts a Chinese Immigrant family in 1905. The painting below of the children arriving at the Chinese Public School is like a fast-forward through the decades for this family. The little boy on the left looks like he's dressed 1920's style. The little girl in her saddle shoes and pony tail is from the 1950's and the boy on the right, with his skateboard and crash helmet is definitely 1980's.The Chinese Public School, below, has been a part of these changes since it was built in 1909. The two paintings grace the outside walls of the Victoria Police Station, directly across Fisgard Street from the Chinese School.

Jeff Maltby - Chinatown Murals 2

Just around the corner from the painting I posted yesterday, in the passageway leading from Pioneer Square to Fisgard Street is this interesting mural. It takes us on a little voyage through time with the three children running towards the Chinese Public School, the distinctive steps of which can be seen in the background. The picture fades from black and white to color from left to right as history progesses with the first little boy wearing what may have been a school uniform of 1909, the year the Chinese Public School was opened. The little girl is dressed in '50s style - look at those saddle shoes. And the little boy on the right with his skateboard and crash helmet is definitely from the modern era. The way the painting is hung, the children are running towards the Chinese Public School on the opposite side of Fisgard Street as they may well have done through this passageway years ago.