Vancouver Park Board

Some Sculptures in Parks

Paradise and Coyote sculpture
at English Bay.

The Immigrants sculpture in
il giardino italiano garden
in Hastings Park.

March 8, 2004 - Whether permanently in place or on long-term loan opposed to short-term stay, Vancouver's wide variety of park sculptures enliven any encounter between park visitor and art piece. Some sculptures have become icons for the park itself like Henry Moore's majestic Knife Edge-Two Piece that has called Queen Elizabeth Park home for over three decades. Knife Edge was a special gift from lumber magnet Prentice Bloedel and his wife Virginia, art collectors both, who generously donated the Bloedel Floral Conservatory and roof top plaza in 1969.

The Photo Session by J. Seward Johnson, Jr., also a gift, arrived at Queen Elizabeth's North Quarry overlook in 1984 following a first time visit to Vancouver by the sculptor. He was so impressed with the city that he wished to place his art here. And that piece wasn't all. On loan to the Park Board is Johnson's The Search, placed near the entrance to Stanley Park at Devonian Plaza. In this piece a woman on a bench searches through her purse for her glasses which unbeknownst to her, are propped on her head. Hardly a week goes by when some passerby doesn't place a posy of flowers in her bronzed hands giving her a more human touch.

For most of 2003, parks along English Bay and Coal Harbour were enlivened with temporary public art installations through an international sculpture project sponsored by a local art gallery. The English Bay and Coal Harbour Seawalls, some of the Park Board's most popular promenades/cycle/blader routes, have provided great backdrops for these displays to the huge delight of the public.

The natural, rusty patina of the very popular Paradise and Coyote sculpture by Canadian artist, John McEwen near the English Bay entrance to Stanley Park, with its cut out stars perfectly refracting ocean sunsets, has proven a major conversation piece. Other recent arrivals include sculptures at Morton Park (Davie and Denman Street); Harbour Green Park (at the foot of Bute Street) and sets of stainless steel chairs by Michel Goulet, near Sunset Beach.

One of Vancouver's newest sculptures was donated to Hastings Park's il giardino italiano. Unveiled in September 2000, the sculpture to the Immigrants depicts a family of new arrivals to early Vancouver, bundles of personal possessions carried on their backs. It pays homage to all this city's residents who made Canada their new home and enriched its social and economic fabric.

The next time you visit the parks make sure you pay special attention to any sculptures that may reside there - a story awaits to be discovered.