a new mural would be produced<\/a> on an unnamed building in 2026, and two more murals would be restored.<\/p>\nLoughery was not at the council meeting and said, as the project manager, she wasn\u2019t invited to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the project manager, the painter, and the art educator,\u201d said Loughery of the murals project that produced 28 works of arts on Vernon buildings between 1998 and 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a project management contract with me, the project manager. And then the art would become leveraged as part of my investment as one of the partners, with the City of Vernon, the federal government, and the DVA as the steward of the project. I was an independent contractor.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the layers are being forgotten and I am being reduced to the artist that was commissioned, and that is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loughery points to a one-page contract with the city from Feb. 19, 2013 for one of the last murals painted, the Sunflower Project, on the rear of the Shaw Cable building on 28th Avenue.<\/p>\n
The contract shows that \u201call copyright in and to the works are retained by the artist and are not assigned, conveyed, or transferred, in whole or in part, by this agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The document adds that Loughery \u2013 \u201cfor the entire term of the copyright of the works\u201d \u2013 grants the city permission to reproduce, depict, and use the works in the city\u2019s publications, as well as the permission \u201cto display or exhibit the works.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his presentation to council, Murtagh said two contracts were generated each time a mural went up: one for the building owner, and one for the project manager \u2013 Loughery.<\/p>\n
The project manager\u2019s contract, said Murtagh, included a one-time fee for completing the work; a clause that compelled the DVA to first approach Loughery for future maintenance (or what Murtagh called \u2018first right of refusal\u2019), and then, he said, \u201cperhaps most importantly, the contract included an assignment of full ownership and copyright to the DVA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murtagh \u2013 who joined the DVA in 2022 \u2013 said a process that \u201chas greatly changed over the years\u201d is used to determine which murals get restored and maintained.<\/p>\n
He said to council that, in 2022, the DVA paid Loughery to complete an assessment of all murals which included highlighting the priorities required for that year. In 2022, said Murtagh, some touch-ups and maintenance were performed, and a new assessment was paid for in 2023.<\/p>\n
The DVA and Loughery have been unable to come to an agreement in the time since on how to proceed, and Murtagh said only about 30 instances of graffiti removal from some of the murals happened in 2025.<\/p>\n
With no new agreement in place, he said, the DVA \u2013 \u2018remaining steadfast in its commitment to keep the downtown murals beautiful\u2019\u2013 hired a new contractor to perform the work.<\/p>\n
Loughery \u2013 insisting she\u2019s still the mural project manager \u2013 said she was not consulted by the DVA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been available,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve sent letters that restorations have to be done properly. They\u2019re federally funded, they now need restoration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe artist picked may be a great artist, but he has not got the experience on a large-scale mural. And that is concerning to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
One mural downtown on 30th Avenue \u2013 The Crew of the S.S. Penticton, that covers the side of the Suda Fusion building facing Freshco Grocery Store \u2013 has a piece of plywood covering half the face of Capt. Thomas Shorts. Loughery\u2019s signature is nowhere to be found on the painting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess that they might be repairing that one, I don\u2019t know, nobody communicates with me,\u201d said Loughery. \u201cMy name\u2019s removed and that will affect my reputation. It harms the business owner. The amount of miscommunication that is happening from the DVA, that consideration is harmful. A policy and a process must be in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loughery said the last communication she had with the DVA came from the association\u2019s legal department who refused the artist\u2019s request for mediation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to stop the Indian Motorcycle mural (in the alley east of the Towne Theatre) from being altered,\u201d she said. \u201cLike they paid to have half of it painted over. I got in some pushback.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just mutilated it. It\u2019s half-painted and my name stays on there. The (original) colours are not the same. It\u2019s so upsetting to me. It\u2019s something that should not have happened. I never refused not fixing up the mural. I asked for a policy and process under the city to protect them (murals) before we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loughery said the city also does not correspond with her.<\/p>\n
As Murtagh presented as a delegation, council was permitted to ask questions, which happened, but no further discussion on the presentation would be allowed without waiving the city bylaw on such procedures.<\/p>\n
That did not happen.<\/p>\n
And usually, council will discuss delegations at their following meeting. There is nothing on the Vernon murals listed on the agenda for the next meeting, Monday, May 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The artist responsible for Vernon\u2019s downtown murals project feels like she needs to be restored. Michelle Loughery vehemently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75,79004],"class_list":["post-660613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-okanagan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}