'Painting' with PVC

A 16-foot mosaic portrait of Boston Celtics player Kelly Olynyk looks out from a chain-link fence at a basketball court in Kamloops, British Columbia, where the NBA sharpshooter grew up.

Artist Bill Frymire used a unique medium to create his latest masterpiece: Fashioning the face and long hair of the 7-foot-tall forward famous for his 3-point shot accuracy out of scraps of vinyl siding from local construction sites.

Three years ago, Frymire made headlines when he used pieces of high density polyethylene from 1 gallon milk jugs for a mosaic of iconic Canadian runner Terry Fox. However, he fears that tribute may be “nearing the end of its life” because the HDPE hasn't held up so well under the sun.

After receiving a sustainability grant from Thompson Rovers University (TRU), where the basketball court is located and where Olynyk's father, Ken, is director of athletics, Frymire decided to go with vinyl siding this time. The plastic building material is known for its durability, resilience against ultraviolet light and the elements, and a wide array of color options. He also liked the idea that he would reuse something headed for a landfill.

Frymire told MassLive.com that he divided the fence into a grid, looked at each diamond-shaped opening as a pixel, and then turned the siding into his PVC palette.

“I had five different sizes of vinyl siding chips that I cut, each one with three holes in it, and [I] basically put it where it needs to be to create the portrait. So that's kind of the process, and they're held on with aluminum rings.”

Frymire said he thinks the mosaic will hold up 10 years or more. Considering that many vinyl siding manufacturers offer lifetime warranties for their products, his estimate seems to be on the low side. But even if he's right, considering that the average retirement age for NBA players is in their mid to late 30s, Olynyk will enjoy having his plastic-pixel portrait peer out from one of his favorite places for much of his career.

“This is a unique piece of art and Bill's work is unreal,” Olynyk, 25, said in a news release. “It's humbling and a real honor to have my image displayed as a mural in Kamloops; it's the city that raised me and TRU is like my second home.”