Crews were busy this week installing new pieces of public art on Capital Boulevard, or 108 Street, in downtown Edmonton. The pieces are part of a series to commemorate Canada’s 150th July 1.
In total, five sculptures have been commissioned for the roadway – and two were installed this week.
The pieces, entitled Transect (by artists Julia Reimer and Tyler Rock of Black Diamond, Alberta), and Star Gazer – Koo-koo-sint (by artists Dawn Detarando and Brian McArther of Red Deer), will also eventually stand with three others, a metal sculpture called World Enough, and Time (by Edmonton artist Ken Macklin), a stone tower called Sentinel (by artist Sandra Bromley of Edmonton), and a stone sculpture called Nature’s Harmony by Alexander First Nation sculptor Leo Arcand.
Transect is a glass and stainless steel structure, in the shape of a sphere, punctuated by blue circular glass panels featuring photographs of animal tracks, native plants and times in Alberta’s history.
The large piece was installed on Capital Boulevard, north of the Alberta legislature, at the end of last week.
Blocks down the road, crews installed Star Gazer Sunday; the sculpture features drawings and writings by David Thompson on three canoes, to pay tribute to the explorer and cartographer. Atop the canoes, a cutout of David Thompson sits, gazing through a sextant.
“I don’t know how he did it really, I mean it’s an incredible journey, it’s an epic journey,” artist Dawn Detarando said Sunday.
“This boulevard is actually going to be a landmark in itself, so that’s going to be an exciting thing, and the fact that we’re among four amazing artists on this boulevard, like we feel again, really fortunate.” Detarando said.
Those two pieces will be officially unveiled on Canada Day, July 1 – along with World Enough, and Time, which will be installed at some point in the coming weeks.
The metal tower, with three metallic spheres hanging from the top, is an examination of time – according to the artist.
“To me, time is not always linear, but simultaneous,” Macklin said, in a statement posted on the website for the project. “Our thoughts and emotions in the present are coloured by the past, through memory and by the future through hope.”
The other two pieces should be installed by August, 2017.
All five pieces make up the Capital Boulevard Legacy Public Art Project for Canada 150. It is funded in part by the City of Edmonton ($300,000 for infrastructure on the street), the Alberta Foundation for the Arts ($300,000 for the art pieces), the Federal Government’s Canada 150 Fund ($300,000 to help cover costs for the entire project), and the Downtown Business Association ($120,000 for lighting).
With files from Jeremy Thompson
