Watch for salmon out of water in your neighbourhood – metal art salmon, that is.
A “school” of steel salmon sculptures will be installed in three Squamish neighbourhoods: downtown, the eagle viewing dike at Eagle Run in Brackendale and the entrance to the Garibaldi Village overpass in Garibaldi Estates.
Late last week artist Christina Nick, the salmon’s creator, was announced as the winner of the Connecting Squamish Neighbourhoods public art project launched earlier this year by the district’s public art select committee.
“I obviously feel honoured to have been chosen,” Nick told The Squamish Chief by email from France, where she is currently staying. “I have lived in the Sea to Sky Corridor for over 25 years and feel especially close to Squamish, the ‘heart’ of the corridor. It seems fitting to me that I have the privilege to create public art for the citizens of the town.”
Nick said the natural environment, especially the river ecosystem, inspires her.
“It is with awe that I witness the salmon runs every year, and I have worked on that theme creatively since I first arrived in the corridor,” she said.
“Now I create three-dimensional whimsical sculptures of these beautiful fish, the cornerstone of all that is wild in B.C. I try to impart movement in all my sculptures, and with the salmon I can add fun details in the scales of the fish, and try to tell different stories and references about them through shape and colour as well.”
As she usually does, Nick plans to use some recycled objects in the salmon pieces and is calling on the public to provide objects that represent each neighbourhood that she could use.
The salmon will be created with welded steel, paint, resin and objects that represent each neighbourhood, hopefully in a studio at the Brackendale Art Gallery, Nick said.
“Public art can work wonders in communities in many ways; it creates attachment to one’s community and helps people rediscover imagination,” Mayor Patricia Heintzman said in a district news release. “These installations will not only enhance the connection between our neighbourhoods, they will spark dialogue and emotion by uniting the built and the natural environment. We’re excited to have chosen artwork that so creatively reflects the character of our town.”
Nick credits Heintzman, the Brackendale Art Gallery and the Squamish Arts Council with changing how art is embraced in Squamish.
“I think that the town has been enriched by artists of all sorts, those that are from abroad and the Native artists that live here,” she said.
“By providing opportunities like the ‘call for artists’ that the municipality of Squamish spearheaded, artists like myself can perhaps help fashion a creative identity that hopefully will be embraced by all the people who live here.”
All told, the salmon installations are budgeted at $15,000, according to a district spokesperson.
The salmon will be installed this fall, according to the district.
