Criticism follows new $500,000 public art installation in Calgary
CALGARY New public art installed along the Trans-Canada Highway in Calgary will act as a “gateway to the city,” but it’s already drawing pointed criticism.
The first part of the $500,000 art installation is located on the south side of the Trans-Canada underneath the Paskapoo slopes, which drivers will pass by as they come into the city from the west.
Calgary Coun. Sean Chu takes issue with the new art installation, especially the price tag.
“This actually burns me,” Chu said. “There are thousands of people losing jobs and you’re doing this? There’s got to be better timing.”
Chu said he regularly goes door to door with constituents and has heard many times the best way he can help them is to get them a job.
“What am I supposed to tell them? ‘Oh, I’m sorry, you don’t have a job but that’s OK, we just spent another $500,000 on a piece of art.’”
The Bowfort Towers are four “sentinels” — steel beams intended to look rusty. Each sentinel cradles Rundle rock, a type of stone only found in Alberta.
“The stones float in steel cribs and when you look at them you can actually see the water ripples from the lake that was here 227 million years ago. There are also fossils of animals from the seabed at that time,” said Sarah Iley, manager of arts and culture at the city.
This art piece also aligns with Blackfoot symbolism, according to Iley. The four sentinels represent the four seasons, four directions, four elements and four stages of life.
The artists commissioned by the city to create these installations are duo Del Geist and Patricia Leighton, who hail from New York.
Blackfoot artist Kalum Teke Dan said what Geist is trying to portray with the four elements didn’t come across to him.
“Maybe if he consulted a (Blackfoot) tribe before he did it because, really, I bet if you got a bunch of Blackfoot elders to look at it, they’re not going to understand it,” Teke Dan said.
Chu also disagrees with the choice to use a non-Indigenous artist for a piece that includes Blackfoot symbolism.
“If that’s the case, get a Blackfoot or Treaty 7 native to be the artist,” Chu said. “Connection is the key. I think it’s an excuse to make it more palatable. ‘Oh, it’s native related, so we’re just supposed to take it.’”
There was an open competition among artists, instead of specifically choosing a Calgary-based one because of international trade agreements, Iley said.
“We want our artists here to have the same opportunity to compete for jobs elsewhere as others do to compete for jobs here,” Iley said. “The selection panel is made up of members of the community (who) decided this was the most interesting approach they could see.”
The second part, which is yet to be installed, is drumlins, ovalshaped mounds of earth left behind when glaciers recede. However, these ones will be man-made and located on the opposite side of the highway from the Towers, which drivers will pass by as they leave the city.
The artwork is scheduled to be fully completed by the end of October.
Geist did not immediately reply to a request for comment.