Gastown was shut down mostly in March due to COVID-19. Kim Briscoe, the owner of a local framing and art store Kimprints, found a way to spread love and hope throughout the community.

Kimprints has been around since 1984. Kim started it by selling local prints and custom framings and as years went on, they opened it up to small gifts, cards and other items. Kimprints is also the hub of where to find local artist Ken Foster’s work. Kimprints has two locations. The first one is on Denman, a two minute walk from English Bay and the second is the Gastown location. This store is located in the old Hotel Europe. The building is amazing and defiantly worth checking out.

Kimprints windows, along with many other businesses, have been boarded up due to shutting down from COVID-19.

Briscoe told CBC, “At a distance, I could see how terrible the building looked and it’s such a beautiful building, so I thought, ‘ok we’ll have to do something about this.’”

Kim saw a chance to use art in order to show love and support to frontline workers and give hope to the community. She reached out to local artists to create murals around her building.

(@kimprintsframing / Instagram)

Other businesses on Robson, Granville and in Gastown have followed Kim and have had artists cover their windows.

Thos movement Briscoe created is called the Murals of Gratitude.

(@kimprintsframing / Instagram)

There are murals of Dr. Bonnie Henry along with Dr. Teresa Tam, Albert’s health officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw, and many messages to nurses and frontline workers.

These murals have had many people stop along the streets and take pictures and some have even left thank you notes on them. This has been a great way to bring the community together and allow for local artists to create some new work.