Here are the ones I have been able to locate in Ottawa. All are individually painted on, or mounted on, exterior walls and have been done with the permission of the property owner. As much as possible, all are shown as the artist saw them, with obstructions removed when possible by perspective control and other techniques.
Quartier Vanier
Westboro
Corso Italia
School Murals
Isolated Murals
Graffiti Walls
Past Tense
Although Ottawa's economic engine has been dominated by non-governmental activity for many years, any attempt to stand out from the crowd is still frowned upon in the best civil service tradition and hit with bylaw infractions by the dozen. So, until recently outdoor murals were present only in a few areas where a business improvement association succeeded in applying sufficient political pressure to defeat the bylaw bureaucrats.
Regrettably, that antipathy means that the City plays no part in enabling people to appreciate them, let alone protecting or promoting them. For example, immediately adjacent to the magnificent Corso Italia Heritage Mural, there is a city parking lot. Despite this, the city still blockades views of the murals with parking meters and parking. Just two no parking signs at each end would greatly enhance public appreciation of them.
Residential murals are tolerated only on a zero complaints basis, despite Ontario Superior Court rulings that the federal charter of rights and freedoms requires municipal regulators to stick to their constitutionally sanctioned responsibilities for health and safety of their residents and to stay out of aesthetic judgements. Put simply, any 'mark' can be called a 'sign' in Ottawa, and residential areas aren't allowed them under the city sign bylaws. Further, anything anywhere may be arbitrarily ruled as 'graffiti' by a city inspector at any time, even after it has been in place for years, as in the case of the Hot Peppers restaurant ([Map]).
I hope to help change that. I'm encouraging the city to separate aesthetic values, art, which is not a proper part of zoning, from commercial signage, a land use, which is. I'm hoping for the surrounding community to have some input on murals, in particular that a mural be permitted if the majority of the surrounding community are in favour of it, rather than having a tiny number of philistines in control as at present.
Commercial reproduction or exhibition of photographs of these murals may require permission from the artists and possibly others. I have provided links to the artists and sponsors that I know of. See the Canadian Copyright Collective site for further guidance.
Please let me know of any I've missed. If you are an artist I haven't been able to identify or contact, I'll appreciate a chance to discuss your work with you. I thank Marie-Claire Gratton for finding many in Sandy Hill/Vanier.
John Sankey
murals in other cities
other notes on our community
Philadelphia Mural Arts program