murals

The images you see capture the “Beautiful B.C.” mural project that was painted in 2006 by Mike Svob and Alan Wylie as commissioned by Playtime Gaming. The 16 images were electronically stitched together and installed as a massive digitized reproduction – 256 feet in length, at several B.C. locations beginning in 2007 at Campbell River , Langley followed by Courtenay in 2008. They will be added into the décor at other Playtime locations in the future. Both artists have many years of professional experience painting conventionally sized canvasses as well as murals. Alan’s first mural was finished in 1960. His first collaboration with Mike – at the Vancouver International Airport was in 1993.
 
We are very proud of the work and take pleasure in prominently display their talent for all our guests to enjoy.
 
To view a brief documentary on the project entitled: The Muralists” by Peter J. Segnitz click on the link below.

Mike Svob, born in Welland, Ontario in 1955, has been a full time artist since 1982. This year, 2007, Mike is celebrating his 25th year as a professional artist. Outstanding artistic achievements have included mastering watercolours, acrylics and oils. To date, Mike has had over 65 exhibitions and has produced over 25 large scale murals throughout North America. He is an impressionist that is easily identified by his signature use of strong bold colour.

Mike Svob is an artist who enjoys the creative process. He is an avid map reader and a pilot, a person with a great sense of adventure. He has cycled through Europe, flown his single engine plane from coast to coast in Canada and the U.S. and trekked through Nepal. Each year he conducts a plein air painting wor kshop in either Europe or Mexico. He also teaches throughout the year in British Columbia and Alberta, and is a contributing writer to a selective group of art publications.

He is an artist, a husband and a father and resides in White Rock, B.C.

Svob’s paintings are held in many private and corporate collections throughout the world. His work has been featured in International Artist Magazine, Magazin D’Art, Artist Magazine and American Artist.

Mike’s images of his paintings and ideas about painting can be found in several art books.

He studied at the University of Western, Ontario and is a past president of the Federation of Canadian Artists and also a senior member (SFCA) of this society. As an award-winning artist and a leading teacher and workshop instructor, Mike strongly believes that sharing knowledge among fellow artists and art students provides only positives results for all.

Mike is a romantic, impassioned by the visual presentation that life has to offer. The power and movement of light is captured in his work and nature interacting with people plays an important role in his art.

For Mike, his life is his art and all it encompasses.

“In my work I try to bring the viewer into my space to see the world through my eyes. I have always been deeply moved by the landscape. As a child I would spend hours tramping around in the

sparkle of fresh snow or stare in awe at the power of a summer thunderstorm, the play of light, the dance of trees in the wind, the sound of waves crashing on the rocks; to be one with the beauty and majesty of nature. As an artist I try to capture these moments, distill out what is unnecessary to me and leave the viewer with an impression of the landscape that will endure through time.”

 Alan Wylie was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1938. In 1960, he graduated from the Glasgow School of Art with a degree in Mural Design and Mosaics. He immigrated to Nova Scotia in 1967 and began a career as a full-time artist and teacher. In 1974, he moved to British Columbia and now lives in the historic village of Fort Langley, B.C. with his artist wife, Janice Robertson.

Throughout his career, Alan has participated in 69 solo shows, and innumerable group exhibitions, and has won many prestigious awards in Canada and the United States, including the Spillsbury Gold Medal (three times) of the Federation of Canadian Artists – Vancouver, the Gold Medal of the California Watercolor Association – San Francisco, the Rouse Gold Medallion at the Adirondacks International Exhibition of American Watercolors – New York, the High Winds Medal (twice), the Mario Cooper and Dale Myers Medal and the CFS Medal at the American Watercolor Society – New York.

He is a Senior Signature Member and Past President of the Federation of Canadian Artists (SFCA), the Canadian Institute of Portrait Artists (CIPA), the Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS), the California Watercolor Association (CWA), the Louisiana Watercolor Society (LWS), the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolor (CSPWC), and a Dolphin Fellow (the first Canadian to achieve this distinction) of the American Watercolor Society (ASW., DF.)

Alan is also a noted mural and mosaic artist, with forty-five completed works in Scotland, Canada and the United States.