August 4 - 27

First Thursday Art Walk Collaboration on September 7, 6 - 8 pm

North Shore artist Matt Monroe conceived & designed this work of interactive temporary public art to inspire dialogue on the impacts of climate change & importance of environmental stewardship & restoration through a collaborative building process.

Tree Build invites the public to come together to create a whimsical, colourful, oversized sculpture in the form of a tree – made from brightly painted pieces of driftwood attached together with connectors created from recycled plastic waste. Members of the community will help 'grow' the work by connecting more & more pieces resulting in a tall, three-dimensional, brightly-colored tree growing in all directions.

Creating something unique & beautiful together as a community mimics the worldwide cooperation necessary to safeguard our planet. Seeing the creation grow & evolve in a tangible way as a group effort, reminds us to work together to maintain & care for the awesome beauty of the environment around us.

Tree Build debuted Thursday, August 4.

Community Collaboration Events were held weekends throughout August, allowing curious & creative members of the community to engage with & participate in the ever changing installation. Every day the tree would be reset for participants to add branches in new configurations - resulting in a renewed tree every time.

About the Artist

Matt Monroe is a Vancouver artist & maker who creates large-scale, sculpture-based installations that provoke a reconsideration of our relationship with the familiar. Matt’s techical skill as a builder and fine craftsperson, combined with his whimsical artistic vision, result in often humorous pieces that evoke emotion through altered objects & contrived experiences.

By reconfiguring the language of established trade skills, & the form of traditional furniture & architecture, Matt creates objects that are at once familiar but, at the same time, defy expectation. His works illuminate something in the world around us either by activating it with unexpected motion or by creating it out of unexpected materials. Oftentimes, his site-specific pieces will interact directly with the environment in which they are placed.

Matt has shown his art work in New York, Detroit, Buffalo, New Mexico, Colorado, Chicago & Los Angeles.

He currently lives in North Vancouver with his family & two dogs.

The West Vancouver Community Arts Council gratefully acknowledges the following for their partnership & support of the 2023 Community Art Project