Children peek through it and scramble over it – they don’t know it is art.
The recently installed massive piece of red cedar driftwood that little hands and feet often explore is actually a legacy artwork donation from Vancouver Biennale recently placed at the entrance to Smoke Bluffs Park.
Brazilian artist Hugo Franca’s Public Furniture/Urban Trees piece was moved to the park last week from its previous location near Squamish Elementary School at the entrance to Squamish.
Four other local groups were selected to receive the six remaining pieces of Franca’s Public Furniture/Urban Trees pieces: École les Aiglons French School, the Squamish Loggers Museum and the Sea to Sky Gondola will also be recipients of the legacy artworks. A formal unveiling for all of the artworks is scheduled for B.C. Culture Days Sept. 25 to 27.
The installation at Smoke Bluffs will soon be a centrepiece of the new Hospital Hill Play Park, which is being created by local neighbourhood volunteers and headed by John Harvey and other members of the Squamish Trails Society.
“The day I saw the guy carving those stumps, I was already having the vision it should be in the play park, in the Smoke Bluffs,” said Harvey, while taking a break from working on the park Saturday.
Eventually, the Hospital Play Park committee members, with whom Harvey works, officially applied and were chosen to be gifted the art piece. It was placed in the park last week.
Harvey will be in charge of refurbishing and maintaining the “log,” he said – “cleaning it up in advance of sanding, grinding, sanding and then ultimately staining it, so it lasts.”
Hospital Hill resident Suzie Beliveau has been one of the main volunteers involved from the start with the playground project, and she is excited about the new addition.
“Every day I see people looking or sitting on the structure,” she said. “The park is really starting to become a reality, and this is really exciting.”
A swing set and slide will be installed at the park on Thursday, but the park will not technically be open for another month, Beliveau said.
In addition to the donation of the art piece from Vancouver Biennale, the play park is a result of collaboration and donations from various groups including: the Squamish Trail Society, the District of Squamish, the Hospital Hill Play Park Committee and the Smoke Bluffs Committee.
