When the mural is more majestic than the mountains, you can bet Tyler Toews had a hand in it. Words :: Corrie DiManno
For the last 25 years, the Nelson, BC, artist has made watching paint dry an inspiring event for communities, shops and organizations across the country. With his bright and bold style, Tyler Toews creates three-dimensional, anamorphic, large-scale murals known for engaging the viewer and creating a sense of community.
“I always try to engage the viewer with my art. I want to create a mural that reaches out and grabs somebody,” he says. “I’ve also seen firsthand how the community will quickly take ownership of the piece and how public art builds pride in one’s community.”
While Tyler’s body of work evolved from graffiti writing in the ‘90s to creating historical sepia scenes in the early ‘00s to what it is today, it all began with a glowing review from his mother when he was in kindergarten. When picking him up from a day at his aunt’s house, she was greeted with the serious news that Tyler had drawn all over the wall. His mother went to see for herself and, instead of being upset, she was quite pleasantly surprised and proud.
“The airplane I drew had all of these windows with people in it and the wings of the plane had perspective on them; it wasn’t just a flat airplane. And her first reaction was, ‘That’s pretty good for his age.’”
Now his uncle wishes they would have kept it. Lucky for us, though, most of Tyler’s more than 100 murals—of everything from underwater scenes to bird’s eye landscapes made through his company Canadian Murals—are still standing tall to this day.
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Over the years, he’s been proud to leave his fingerprints on buildings like the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital and Nelson city hall, both bearing anamorphic hearts. Most recently, he covered the Baldface Valhalla headquarters in a glacial-coloured topographic map of the same terrain where he works as a splitboarding guide and supervisor. (If pressed, he will concede that phthalo turquoise is his favourite colour, which is featured prominently in this piece.)
“During the summer, I’m really free-spirited, self-motivated, creative and kind of alone in my headphones,” Tyler says of the seasonal nature of his life. “In the wintertime, I put my watch back on and I fall into a schedule. My work is analytic and, between the guests and working with other guides, quite social.”
Tyler has also brought together his craft and his passion for the outdoors by highlighting environmental issues through his art. He’s painted melting glaciers and pollution of the ocean in the hopes of stimulating a discussion.
“Climate change is important, and I think about it a lot. I think about the future for my kids. I don’t come up with many answers, but I’m posing questions so that maybe somebody else can come up with an answer and we can collectively and positively move forward in the way we think about environmental issues.”
Tyler’s daughters Nyssa, 16, and Mazy, 11, are following in their dad’s footsteps—in more ways than one. Riding together in winter and climbing as a family in the summer, Tyler says, “Seeing them experience this joy is like experiencing it all over again for yourself.”
The creative gene has been passed down, too. Mazy loves to draw and is surgically precise with a needle and thread, hand-sewing stuffed animals (along with their own accessories like backpacks and hats) out of old socks and found materials. Nyssa creates collages and has recently begun upcycling clothing from thrift stores and even making her own clothing. Nyssa also had the opportunity to help apply the paint on both of her dad’s heart murals.
And, of course, they’ve also drawn on the walls of their family home.
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