New Sculptures Unveiled in Parks

December 6, 2004 - It has been said that the heart and soul of a city can be read through the art it leaves behind. New generations interpret symbols of those who came before. Our parks have been the recipient of many monuments through its history creating a road map disclosing celebration, occasion, loss or heartbreak.

Within the last week, new sculptures were unveiled at two of Vancouver's most beautiful waterfront parks.

Light Shed

Located near the west side of Harbour Green Park and overlooking Coal Harbour from the seawall, Light Shed was unveiled December 1st. Artist Liz Magor has created a sculpture that reflects the history of this area as a working waterfront with docks, freight sheds and fish boats. At nightfall, a darting light will be visible from the interior of the shed referencing waterfront workers of a bygone era.

Grosvenor Americas Limited donated this piece marking their 50 years in Vancouver in 2004.

AIDS Memorial

An area commonly known as the sheep meadow, located at the south end of Nicola Street at English Bay Park, was the scene of an emotional dedication of the AIDS Memorial sculpture on November 30th. Designed by a team headed up by Bruce Wilson, the monument is a diaphanous ribbon of steel winding through the wooded landscape marking the memory of those who died. The monument consists of a muted, naturally oxidated steel wall through which the names are cut, creating a transparent quality. The sculpture was funded through the Vancouver AIDS Memorial Committee and contains the following inscription by poet George Santayana:

   "With you a part of me hath passed away,
   For in the peopled forest of my mind
   A tree made leafless by this wintry wind
   Shall never don again its green array....Another, if I would, I could not find,
   And I am grown much older in a day.
   But yet I treasure in my memory
   Your gift of charity and young heart's ease,
   And the dear honour of your amity,
   For these once mine, my life is rich with these.
   And I scarce know which part may greater be, -
   What I keep of you, or you rob from me."

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