Volunteers gathered in Altona to give a different purpose to pieces of the giant "Sunflowers" Van Gogh painting that was redone last summer.

Artist Cameron Cross restored that painting last year due to weather damage.

Volunteers working to get rid of the wood behind the original painting

During this time a group called Altogether 4 Van Gogh was formed, made up of Cross, Elizabeth Falk, Ann Kroeker, Dorothy and Bernie Friesen, and a representative from Gardens on Tenth.

The group organized a volunteer project on Saturday to chisel away the wood behind pieces of the original fibreglass canvas, that hung in Altona for many years.

"We realized that the next repainting... may be more difficult to finance than this one because we had hail insurance to cover half the cost, so we decided to get going immediately and start doing small fundraising and contribute to a fund, to basically assure that the painting is maintained," said Kroeker.

About one thousand rectangles of painted fibreglass have been cut and will be made into a different form of art, such as fridge magnets and jewelry.

Kroeker noted these smaller art pieces will be sold at the upcoming Sunflower Festival and possibly other events as well.

"We're planning on having a booth set up at the festival, they probably also will be available at the Gardens on Tenth," Kroeker added.