Public art is visual art that exists in the public realm. The Barrie Public Art Guide features works in public spaces across Barrie along with mapped locations. Copies are available for pickup at City Hall and tourism outlets.
Did you know? The City won a 2025 Silver Economic Development Award for the Seeds to Sow public art exhibition from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).
City Council approved its first Public Art Policy in October 2012. The policy was created by a committee of arts experts from Barrie and surrounding area. The policy established a Barrie Public Art Committee that works to raise the profile of public art and create a vibrant, animated city full of public art for all to enjoy. The Public Art Strategy was approved in June 2025.
Public Art Collection
Take a walk along the alley between Collier and Dunlop Streets and behind Donaleigh’s you will find a bright and bold addition to our downtown landscape.
This mosaic mural was facilitated through a partnership between the Rotary Club of Barrie and the City of Barrie. It is intended to beautify the former Trans Canada Trail Pavilion.
The Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal project will include a commissioned work of public art in the outdoor plaza at the Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal, to be installed in 2025.
Evoking an ideal central to Canadian identity, Soapbox was installed as part of Art in Unexpected Places, a temporary exhibition of public art hosted for Canada 150.
Art on Transit artwork is installed on high-profile bus shelters and featured in all ten Barrie wards.
Councillor-led community improvement art projects were completed in consultation with the BPAC.
Brightening Barriers 2025 features six art installations from new and emerging artists located in Barrie and beyond.
Proactively painting anti-graffiti coatings and murals on surfaces prone to graffiti is one of the approaches used on the City's graffiti abatement program.
Barrie’s first commissioned Public Art sculpture, titled “Dividers Made into a Juncture,” is installed at the downtown branch of the Barrie Public Library.
Designed to serve two purposes, the container at Meridian Place is not only a storage facility, but a mural that adds to the beautification of downtown Barrie.
Sculpture at Meridian Place in downtown Barrie. Also known as The Bob Hunter Memorial Public Art Project.
The Sea Serpent, located in Heritage Park, is the first large donation accepted into the City’s collection by the Public Art Committee.
Seeds to Sow featured six installations of site-specific artwork, transforming Barrie's landscape from September 27 to November 8, 2024.