8 August 2023 – I’ve never noticed this alley before, let alone known that it has a name. (An ignorance shared by the City.) I am here totally by accident, because — as I wander north on Columbia toward False Creek — I peer down the alley entrance.

A skeleton atop a doorway welcomes my curiosity.

Well, yes! I think — as I take in the longer view — I will definitely find what I’m looking for.

Or, anyway, find what I’m delighted to find, which is whatever this alley chooses to offer.

Only later do I learn I have stumbled on a Vancouver Mural Festival event: a weekend paint-party up and down Astro Alley. So named because, lying as it does between Columbia / Manitoba / 3rd / 4th, it is the back alley for Astro Studio. Which in turn is a collective of 20 artists, including a co-founder of VMF and numerous VMF alums. All of which makes the alley a favoured place to try out ideas.

It’s still morning, the event not yet officially underway. Some artists are already at work and some other bystanders have joined me in strolling through.

Paint pots are in place…

so are chairs in a couple of pop-up shade tents.

Artists paint their own style, in their own way. Turquoise Hat is upright, for example…

already busy while a few colleagues still chat off to the left. Most are standing; one sits on a handy chunk of concrete, and chips in his comments while he strokes his dog’s ears.

Others paint hunkered down…

or on a sturdy refuse bin (while her neighbour, left, takes a water break)…

or up a step-ladder…

or high on a hoist…

or seated in a comfy chair, serenaded by the current selection on the speaker system (left foreground) in the main alley.

Once this mural is complete, the swimmer may have watchful eyes.

There are already watchful eyes on these walls…

in doorways…

and, of course, in the heads of fascinated bystanders like me.

I finally get a good look at a woman who has been painting ‘way high on her hoist. I discover that along with creating art for the alley, she is herself art in the alley.

Her arms and legs are permanent canvas for tattoo art, while her black-clad bum is a temporary canvas for… let’s call it “participatory art.” A companion piece for the mural taking shape on the wall.

I emerge at the east end of the block, take one last fond look back along its length…

and continue my walk to False Creek.

This is the magic of being on foot. Stuff happens!