'We don't know who it is': Mystery artist has left more than 100 painted rocks on shelves in B.C. library

There is a colourful mystery unfolding at a Surrey library branch. For years now, someone has been leaving tiny works of art on the shelves.

Staff at Surrey Libraries' Guildford branch first discovered a painted rock nestled amongst the books on their shelves in September 2019.

"(It) just mysteriously appeared in the fiction stacks," said Meghan Savage, branch manager for the Guildford and Port Kells branches of Surrey Libraries.

"A staff member brought it to the front counter and said, 'Hey we found this beautiful painted rock.'"

Since then, staff members have found more than 100 other rocks, each one intricately painted, never accompanied by a note or signed by the mystery artist.

"As they appeared week after week, we started to, you know, get suspicious," Savage said. "Like, who is this person? What a lovely surprise. It became this mystery and we would hunt through the stacks to try to find the next rock."

The rocks appear about once a week, on average, and each one has a number on the bottom.

"There's two that we never found," Savage said. "Probably someone in the community just found it and thought it was pretty and took it home, so hopefully it's got a good home in a garden somewhere."

She said the library has asked some of its regular patrons and staff members whether they are the one painting the rocks, but so far no one has owned up to it.

Whoever it is, the artist is prolific. Some of the rocks are painted with geometric patterns, others have faces or animals painted on them, and some have entire outdoor scenes.

"It's somebody who is very talented and I think this is just their way of giving back to the community," Savage said. "We don't know who it is, and that's part of the fun."

All of the rocks the library has collected are on display for the public through the end of March. After that they could be turned into a rock garden on the branch's staff patio, Savage said.

There have also been discussions of compiling the beautiful works of art in a book, she added.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Nafeesa Karim