The artist responsible for Vernon’s downtown murals project feels like she needs to be restored.
Michelle Loughery vehemently disputes Downtown Vernon Association (DVA) executive director Keelan Murtagh’s assertion that there was a mural contract for every mural, which Murtagh presented to Vernon council when he appeared as a delegation April 27.
Murtagh was at council to announce a new mural would be produced on an unnamed building in 2026, and two more murals would be restored.
Loughery was not at the council meeting and said, as the project manager, she wasn’t invited to it.
“I was the project manager, the painter, and the art educator,” said Loughery of the murals project that produced 28 works of arts on Vernon buildings between 1998 and 2013.
“There was a project management contract with me, the project manager. And then the art would become leveraged as part of my investment as one of the partners, with the City of Vernon, the federal government, and the DVA as the steward of the project. I was an independent contractor.
“So the layers are being forgotten and I am being reduced to the artist that was commissioned, and that is not true.”
Loughery points to a one-page contract with the city from Feb. 19, 2013 for one of the last murals painted, the Sunflower Project, on the rear of the Shaw Cable building on 28th Avenue.
The contract shows that “all copyright in and to the works are retained by the artist and are not assigned, conveyed, or transferred, in whole or in part, by this agreement.”
The document adds that Loughery – “for the entire term of the copyright of the works” – grants the city permission to reproduce, depict, and use the works in the city’s publications, as well as the permission “to display or exhibit the works.”
In his presentation to council, Murtagh said two contracts were generated each time a mural went up: one for the building owner, and one for the project manager – Loughery.
The project manager’s contract, said Murtagh, included a one-time fee for completing the work; a clause that compelled the DVA to first approach Loughery for future maintenance (or what Murtagh called ‘first right of refusal’), and then, he said, “perhaps most importantly, the contract included an assignment of full ownership and copyright to the DVA.”
Murtagh – who joined the DVA in 2022 – said a process that “has greatly changed over the years” is used to determine which murals get restored and maintained.
He said to council that, in 2022, the DVA paid Loughery to complete an assessment of all murals which included highlighting the priorities required for that year. In 2022, said Murtagh, some touch-ups and maintenance were performed, and a new assessment was paid for in 2023.
The DVA and Loughery have been unable to come to an agreement in the time since on how to proceed, and Murtagh said only about 30 instances of graffiti removal from some of the murals happened in 2025.
With no new agreement in place, he said, the DVA – ‘remaining steadfast in its commitment to keep the downtown murals beautiful’– hired a new contractor to perform the work.
Loughery – insisting she’s still the mural project manager – said she was not consulted by the DVA.
“I’ve always been available,” she said. “I’ve sent letters that restorations have to be done properly. They’re federally funded, they now need restoration.
“The artist picked may be a great artist, but he has not got the experience on a large-scale mural. And that is concerning to me.”
One mural downtown on 30th Avenue – The Crew of the S.S. Penticton, that covers the side of the Suda Fusion building facing Freshco Grocery Store – has a piece of plywood covering half the face of Capt. Thomas Shorts. Loughery’s signature is nowhere to be found on the painting.
“I guess that they might be repairing that one, I don’t know, nobody communicates with me,” said Loughery. “My name’s removed and that will affect my reputation. It harms the business owner. The amount of miscommunication that is happening from the DVA, that consideration is harmful. A policy and a process must be in place.”
Loughery said the last communication she had with the DVA came from the association’s legal department who refused the artist’s request for mediation.
“I tried to stop the Indian Motorcycle mural (in the alley east of the Towne Theatre) from being altered,” she said. “Like they paid to have half of it painted over. I got in some pushback.
“They just mutilated it. It’s half-painted and my name stays on there. The (original) colours are not the same. It’s so upsetting to me. It’s something that should not have happened. I never refused not fixing up the mural. I asked for a policy and process under the city to protect them (murals) before we move forward.”
Loughery said the city also does not correspond with her.
As Murtagh presented as a delegation, council was permitted to ask questions, which happened, but no further discussion on the presentation would be allowed without waiving the city bylaw on such procedures.
That did not happen.
And usually, council will discuss delegations at their following meeting. There is nothing on the Vernon murals listed on the agenda for the next meeting, Monday, May 11.
