There are ex-husbands next to ex-wives. Parents next to children. Politicians next to artists. It’s a who’s who of Squamish, frozen in time.
“This is also me,” Thor Forslev says, pointing to a smooth concrete face.
Thirty years ago, the founder of the Brackendale Art Gallery started his wall of faces. The project was initially a fundraiser to build a stage. But it quickly took on a life of its own.
“Some people just wanted to be up there,” Froslev says as he balances his weight on someone’s forehead.
Today the faces of 118 people make up the wall. One by one, Thor and his wife Dorte invited people over, plastered their faces and let them sit there for 20 minutes. Once hardened, the moulds were taken to the workshop. There, they were filled with concrete. And now they look out from a wall on the side of the art gallery.
“There’s Paul Watson,” Thor says. “Captain Paul Watson.”
The founder of the non-profit organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is not the only famous environmentalist whose face is on the wall. A few metres from him is Canada’s environmental activist sweetheart, David Suzuki. Suzuki stares out a few feet away from two-time Juno award winner, folk singer Paul Valdemar Horsdal, a.k.a. Valdy. Further along is Boston tennis pro Michael Lewitt. And then there’s Canadian naturalist and painter Robert Bateman.
“This is my grandson when he was five years old,” Froslev says. “There he is at 21.”
The list of names and stories behind the faces flow from Froslev as he stops in front of each one. There are happy tales, sad endings and continuing sagas. Thor looks at each face as he rattles off the person’s life journey, as though he’s visiting with old friends.
Froslev brought the property the gallery sits on in 1970. The native of Denmark had a vision of what he wanted to build. With no training or previous experience, he picked up a hammer and began.
“My grandfather on my father’s side was a timber-frame builder who built barns. The other grandfather was a blacksmith,” Froslev says. “I knew I didn’t know anything, but I also knew my family had done that.”
For decades, the gallery was a work in progress. Year after year, more components were added, including the wall of faces. It’s not quite there yet, he jokes.
“It takes time and dedication,” Froslev, 81, says as he reaches the end of the wall. “I put my time into the building.”
