Metal artist gets crow-active to help food bank

Post donation and Crowvid-19 sculpture could be roosting in your yard for a week

A metal crow that’s almost the size of a motorcycle can be yours for a week in exchange for a winning bid, with the money going to the Ottawa Food Bank.

Crowvid-19 is the work of Ottawa metal artist/mechanic Dave Harries, who actually began the sculpture more than a decade ago when he found a ploughshare, the cutting edge of a plow, that was about to be scrapped. It reminded him of a beak.

“A lot of what I sculpt doesn’t come from my head, it comes when I see something on the ground,” he says. “I started with the head and then I built the claws from some auto parts. As a mechanic for so many years, I always feel guilty throwing away stuff that could have another life. So I built the claws, put the head on a stick of rebar and there it sat for over a decade.”

Three house moves (and a pandemic) later, he was in lockdown looking for a project when he rediscovered it in his garage. He’d also salvaged some old bathtubs from previous renovation jobs, and had the tools to cut the steel into “feathers.”

During the two weeks or so it took to complete the crow, an idea was hatched to use it as a fundraiser.

Here’s how it works: Post a bid on the Crowvid-19 Facebook page. On Tuesdays, the highest Ottawa-area bidder earns the honour of having the crow roost in their yard for a week. Harries will look after transportation and installation of the 200-pound sculpture.

The first week it went to a family member for a $100 donation. By Friday afternoon, the bidding for next week’s location was at $300. lsaxberg@postmedia.com

JULIE OLIVER Using two old bathtubs, some car parts and a ploughshare, local metal sculptor and mechanic Dave Harries created a crow likeness he calls Crowvid-19. He’s inviting people to bid on having the sculpture displayed at their home for a week to raise money for the Ottawa Food Bank.