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Artist brings Holly community to life on side of school

Students at Holly Elementary in East Ladner will be welcomed back to school next week with a beautiful new mural.
mural
Holly Elementary principal Keri Hanlon and artist Gary Nay stand in front of a new mural at the East Ladner school.

Students at Holly Elementary in East Ladner will be welcomed back to school next week with a beautiful new mural.

The colourful mural on the side of the school was painted by local artist Gary Nay, who collaborated with students on the project towards the end of the last school year.

Principal Keri Hanlon knew of Nay’s work, specifically a mural he painted on the earthquake bin at English Bluff Elementary.

“I’m a huge fan of Gary’s work because it is very whimsical, very quirky and after I learned about the work he did at English Bluff, I asked him if he would think about doing something on this scale,” said Hanlon. “The kids will come back and see their inspirations come to life through Gary’s artistic interpretation.”

Nay has lived in the community for 32 years and describes himself as a self-taught digital artist.

“With my iPad as my medium, my work is spontaneous and wildly creative,” states the bio on his website.

Nay is a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and recently won an award in its first-ever Digital Imagery Exhibition.

He has been a full-time artist for six years and the two school murals are his first public art projects.

Nay said Holly students contributed to the design, suggesting everything from farms to eagles. He said the painting was done three weeks ago with help from his wife and kids.

“I think it came out fabulous. The colours are great. I learned a lot doing this one and in the end we really enjoyed it.”

Hanlon said as people have started to see the mural and have begun commenting on social media, everyone sees a different story.

“It’s a pretty neat thing,” she said. “His work is all over South Delta and so it was quite an honour for him to come and do this for us.”