World Art Utopia

Kicking Up Dust mural by Sonny Behan, Cambridge, Ontario

A giant grizzly bear painted across a dark red-brown brick wall, walking to the right with its head lowered and its jaws open. Its golden fur is drawn in fine, flowing strokes. Over its shoulder, turquoise, red and yellow geometric symbols, arrows and a small white cross drip down into the fur, and thin white lines fan out across the wall around its mouth. The background glows red and orange like dust or smoke. A smiling woman in a pale yellow dress walks past below the bear’s head, and green weeds grow along the foot of the wall.
Artwork FileCambridge · Canada
Gone2023

Kicking
up dust

Sonny Behan · “Kicking Up Dust”, 2017 · Behind 90 Main Street, off Dickson Street, Galt, Cambridge

Photo: Yuliya Viarheichyk, as credited on Street Art Utopia

  • #SonnyBehan
  • #ToTheBone
  • #CISAF2017
  • #IFAW
  • #DowntownGalt
  • #CambridgeOntario

A giant grizzly bear, jaws open and turquoise symbols dripping through its fur, covered the back wall of a furniture store in downtown Galt, Cambridge, Ontario. South African artist Sonny Behan painted it for the 2017 Cambridge International Street Art Festival. In September 2023 the wall was painted green, and no one has said why.

4 things to know

  1. A protest against trophy huntingThis was the second mural of Sonny’s world tour “To The Bone”, made with the animal charity IFAW. His site says it “aims to raise awareness of the brutal trophy hunting of grizzly bears”, a hunt it says was still going on in British Columbia. Sonny · GraffitiStreet
  2. Painted green, reason unknownStreet art fans noticed in September 2023 that the building’s owner had painted over the bear. CambridgeToday could not reach the owner, and Cornerstone did not answer the Cambridge Times. A city spokesperson wrote that the city does “not know why the mural was painted over.” CambridgeToday · Cambridge Times
  3. Nothing protected itMost murals from the 2017 festival have no preservation agreement with the building owners, CambridgeToday reported. The downtown business association (BIA) said it could do nothing to stop the removal. Its newer mural project, The Galtway, does have agreements with owners. CambridgeToday · Cambridge Times
  4. A tiny bear stayed behindAfter the paint-over, a small bear was spray-painted on the green wall as a tribute. In October 2023 Ward 4 councillor Ross Earnshaw said the painted-over walls now carried graffiti. A turkey vulture mural from the same festival, on a neighbouring wall, was painted over in grey. CambridgeToday · Cambridge Times

Check-in guide

📍
Back wall of Cornerstone Home Interiors, 90 Main Street, downtown Galt, Cambridge, Ontario. The wall faces a parking lot off Dickson Street that can be seen from the Old City Hall (CambridgeToday, Cambridge Times, store address).
🧭
From Galt’s old Town Hall at 46 Dickson Street, look south across the parking lot to the back of the Main Street buildings. The Cambridge Times placed the wall above the parking lot of the Matlow, Miller, Cummins, Thrasher law office on Dickson Street. The Maps button points between OpenStreetMap’s address points for 90 Main Street and the old Town Hall: close, but not a surveyed point on the wall.
👀
The bear is gone. In September 2023 the wall was plain green with a tiny spray-painted bear; by October 2023 it had graffiti, a councillor said. We found no newer dated photo.
🎨
Other murals from the street art festival are still around downtown Galt; Stroll Walking Tours’ Cambridge Mural Tour on 12 October 2024 was set to visit 15 murals in the Galt core, starting at 27 Dickson Street (CambridgeToday).
Open in MapsArtist’s page

Sightings

  1. 201728 Jun

    Artist posts the finished bear

  2. 201721 Jul

    GraffitiStreet interview, photos

  3. 2022Tour

    Mural tour stops at the bear

  4. 202326 Sep

    CambridgeToday: painted green

  5. 202328 Sep

    Artist responds

  6. 20234 Oct

    Cambridge Times: wall bare

  7. 202430 Sep

    Caption: painted over in 2023

Every stamp links to the dated source. The 2022 stamp is a photo caption that gives only the year.

On the record

Sonny (artist’s site)28 June 2017

Kicking Up Dust

“Through Sonny’s mural he hopes to drive home the message that grizzly bears are worth far more alive than dead.”

The artist’s own post, by Tessa Cunliffe, presenting the bear as the second stop of To The Bone, painted for the Cambridge International Street Art Festival.

Read

CambridgeToday26 September 2023

World renowned Cambridge bear mural disappears under green paint

“The wall where ‘Kicking Up Dust’ used to live is now a giant ugly, green painted wall.”

Juanita Metzger of Stroll Walking Tours, in Joe McGinty’s first report. It places the mural on the back of Cornerstone Home Interiors, off Dickson Street.

Read

CambridgeToday28 September 2023

Artist responds after his mural was removed from Galt alley

“Although it really saddens me to hear that the mural has been buffed over, I’m glad that it was able to stay up for six years and that it was such a loved artwork by the community.”

Sonny Behan, by email. He said he was not told of any change or damage that could explain the paint-over.

Read

Cambridge Times4 October 2023

Cambridge resident irked bare walls replace downtown Galt murals

“The city does not have control over work created on private property, and we do not know why the mural was painted over.”

A City of Cambridge spokesperson, in Bill Doucet’s report. A different newsroom from CambridgeToday; Cornerstone did not respond to it either.

Read

The facts

Artist
Sonny Behan, a South African artist who works under the name Sonny (Sonny, CambridgeToday) Checked
Title
“Kicking Up Dust” (artist’s site, CambridgeToday, Cambridge Times) Checked
Made
2017, for the Cambridge International Street Art Festival; the artist posted it on 28 June 2017 Checked
Painting days
No source gives the exact days it was painted Unconfirmed
Series
Second mural of To The Bone, Sonny’s tour with IFAW; the only one in Canada (Sonny, CambridgeToday) Checked
Place
Back wall of Cornerstone Home Interiors, 90 Main Street, facing a parking lot off Dickson Street (CambridgeToday, Cambridge Times, Yellow Pages) Checked
Medium, size
Not stated by any source Unconfirmed
Removed
Painted over in green in September 2023; news spread the week before 26 September. The exact day is not reported Checked
Who, why
CambridgeToday says the building’s owner painted it over. Neither the owner nor Cornerstone gave a reason, and the city says it does not know why Reported
Photo
By Yuliya Viarheichyk, as credited on Street Art Utopia, which published it by January 2022; date taken not known Unconfirmed
Status
Gone. Painted over in 2023, per CambridgeToday and the Cambridge Times; no later source shows a new work on the wall Checked

Related

  • On Street Art Utopia: Too Big to Cuddle (12 Photos) (1 October 2026), where the photo above appeared.
  • The whole tour: Sonny’s To The Bone page lists the ten murals in the series, including the New York lion and Nanuk.
  • The artist’s video “To The Bone | Canada”, embedded on his Kicking Up Dust page. YouTube
  • The bear on the walking tour: CambridgeToday on Stroll Walking Tours’ Cambridge Mural Tour of 15 murals in downtown Galt. CambridgeToday
All sources (13)

The artist

  • Sonny: “Kicking Up Dust”, 28 June 2017, by Tessa Cunliffe. Festival, series, IFAW, the artist’s photos.
  • Sonny: “To The Bone”, undated project page. Lists the ten murals in the series, Kicking Up Dust and New York Lion among them.
  • Sonny: “To The Bone | Canada”, YouTube video embedded on the Kicking Up Dust page; upload date not checked.
  • GraffitiStreet: “Interview with Street Artist Sonny, 2017”, 21 July 2017. Photos of the bear captioned Cambridge Street Art Festival. The interviewer notes he had painted “in New York and Canada so far” for To The Bone; Sonny names Vladivostok as the next stop.

The removal

The place

Artwork File · Last checked 4 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files