The message behind the ocean-inspired mural on Sidney's First Street is just as powerful today as it was when it was created 26 years ago.
Crofton-based mixed-media artist IceBear has returned to Sidney this month to provide a few much-needed upgrades to the mural painted in 1998 to commemorate The International Year of the Ocean – a United Nations designation highlighting the importance of oceans and marine environments, as well as the threats facing them.
“If the oceans of the world perish, so shall we,” reads the mural’s plaque. “This mural ... is a brief glimpse into the story of ocean science on the West Coast.”
The impressive work depicts sea creatures, including spider crabs, angler fish, tube worms and humpback whales, as well as a Canadian-built scientific submarine. Pollutants PCBs and dioxins appear throughout, and oceanic features, like black smokers, are prominent. The mural also portrays a young child playing with a starfish – a hopeful message that societies can protect the oceans for future generations.
However, the mural's structure and many of these details have deteriorated due to its years of exposure to direct sunlight and salt from the ocean.
“It has protection from the sun, as well as from the ocean, but it’s not impervious,” said Ice Bear. “Over the years, the individual layers have been compromised.”
For the next two weeks, the artist will repair the mural’s structure before heading to Niagara Falls for an art show. He will return to Sidney in 2025 to re-paint it, and he expects to complete that work by June or July.
This won’t be the first time IceBear has updated the mural.
After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, for example, IceBear added a freighter to the mural signifying the effects that oil extraction and industry can have on our oceans.
IceBear said he is going to add a few details in 2025, like a painting of the Canadian research vessel John P. Tully.
The Sidney community has rallied in support of the artist’s efforts.
Cloverdale Paints donated the paints needed to touch-up the mural. Sun Belt Rentals donated the machine-operated lift that IceBear uses to access the mural's tough-to-reach corners. And Sidney Waterfront Hotel is letting IceBear park his RV in their lot while he works.
“People in general have been really, really good to me here,” the artist said.
