Check out our list of 10 inspiring public works of art
We don’t want to use the word “best,” because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But, of the many pieces of public art in the Okanagan, many inspire us. Here are our choices, presented alphabetically, for the 10 that inspire and intrigue us the most. (Note that we didn’t choose any murals, thus ruling out Vernon. Murals, we thought, should be a separate category.)
BEAR Kelowna
It happens less often nowadays, but questions used to be asked whenever the City of Kelowna selected someone who doesn’t live in the municipality, or even the province, for a public art project.
What’s wrong with our artists? Why are we giving our money to outsiders?
Such parochialism was dispiriting and sometimes disingenuous, since those raising the objections were often just trying to style themselves as a friend to local artists.
‘Bear’, created by Rhode Island artist Brower Hatcher in 2010, brilliantly illustrates the wisdom of casting the net wide when soliciting proposals for new public art.
It’s a striking representation of the animal for which the city is named, a graceful metal latticework interspersed with colourful renderings of fruit, blossoms, fish, frogs, and tourists.
‘Bear’ is a beautiful and appropriate symbol of Kelowna, made by a man who lives far away.
FIREHOUSE Penticton
A bright red steel sculpture titled FireHouse has been attracting attention since its installation back in May in the Front Street roundabout at Vancouver Hill in Penticton.
This large contemporary sculpture was created by American artist Nathan Pierce, who has an interest in architectural form.
“This art piece is meant to inspire viewers to use their imagination and view the world through a different lens,” he wrote.
It will be on display in the roundabout only until April 2019.
It’s also part of the City of Penticton’s public sculpture walks. The next walk is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 26 at 11 a.m., starting at City Hall.
FRANK THE BAGGAGE HANDLER, Penticton
In 2005, famed artist Michael Hermesh turned the community upside down with the unveiling of the naked statue of a middle-aged man surrounding by his weathered old suitcases.
Originally located where FireHouse is today, the piece of art was commissioned by the City of Penticton.
Actually, Frank wasn’t totally nude at first, since a steel plate was placed over his genitals following an equally steely reaction from city hall, caught off-guard by the statue’s nudity.
Eventually the community uproar spread and Frank became the target of vandals. Someone even chopped off his penis, causing further notoriety which was picked up by the national news media.
Herald readers voted Frank the 2005 “Newsmaker of the Year” in its annual poll.
Frank can now be found at Red Rooster Winery on the Naramata Bench where tourists and locals alike get their picture taken with him.
FRUIT STAND Kelowna
While these halved apples and pears are gigantically oversized, they are botanically correct to show the fruits’ texture, the apple seeds and peach pit.
Called Fruit Stand, they tower over park benches along the Art Walk that runs from the Rotary Centre for the Arts to the library parkade.
The 2002 concrete installation is part of a larger collective piece of art that features other fruits and mosaics of vintage fruit box labels from the 1930s and 40s.
It’s a tribute to Kelowna’s agricultural roots and a homage to the tree fruit industry, which continues strong today.
Vancouver artists Glen Anderson and T.S. Thomas designed and created Fruit Stand.
KELOWNA’S CENOTAPH
You might not immediately think of a headstone as a work of art.
But, the large City Park markers commemorating Kelowna’s war dead encourage precisely the kind of contemplation that good sculptures inspire.
Erected in 2006, the granite cenotaph replaced an odd-looking arch that failed to convey the simple reality that many hundreds of Kelowna men died in the First and Second World Wars.
The markers look like tombstones, as well they should, since they contain the names of hundreds of farmers, students, businessmen and other townsmen who left Kelowna and never returned.
If you count the names on the two largest markers, paid for by a fundraising campaign rather than tax dollars, you’ll realize that more men from Kelowna died in the First World War than the Second World War.
That’s largely because of the trench warfare nature of the conflict, a brutal and murderous affair.
It’s staggering to realize that 12 per cent of all Kelowma men died in the First World War. That would be something like 7,000 men in today’s terms.
This November marks the 100th end of the First World War.
Water is at the center of the Osoyoos community, so it makes sense one of its major landmarks is the Pioneer Walkway fountain.
Located on Hwy. 3, just east of the town’s signature lake-spanning bridge, the fountain is a popular spot for photos. Ample parking is available in the adjoining lot and the fountain is an ideal end to a short leg-stretching stroll on the Pioneer Walkway.
The fountain is fed by a pump from Osoyoos Lake, retuning the water to its namesake as it spills through the unique design of hoops and cymbal-shaped domes.
The fountain was designed and built by John Zupan, who worked as a building inspector for the Town of Osoyoos.
RHAPSODY Kelowna
This is another white fiberglass maritime-themed sculpture by Robert Dow Ried, which is better known by its nickname, The Dolphins.
It so obviously depicts giant intertwined dolphins playing in the fountain, surrounded by a lagoon, in the entrance plaza to Waterfront Park in Kelowna.
The square is also called Rhapsody Plaza, but just as the sculpture has been dubbed The Dolphins, the whole space is colloquially known as Dolphins Plaza.
It doesn’t seem to matter that dolphins don’t live in Okanagan Lake, the sculpture has been embraced as quintessentially Kelowna.
The Dolphins were installed in 1993 as part of a joint venture between the City of Kelowna and the Delta Grand hotel.
ROBOTIC TREE Lake Country
Lake Country, a town renowned for its public art, has a new sculpture that references both the past and possible future of Okanagan agriculture.
‘Robotic Tree’ consists of a stylized tree canopy below which dangle six arms, meant to suggest the automated pruning, watering, and harvesting of fruit trees.
It sounds like science fiction, but in fact research is underway on this kind of high-tech agriculture.
Bad news for fruit pickers, perhaps. But, a sign of how automation makes inroads even where we might least expect it.
The Robotic Tree arms are too high to reach, but they do move in the wind.
“Already, kids were playing in the coloured bits of light produced by the Plexiglass fruit, so I think this will really be a popular piece of interactive public art,” Sharon McCoubrey of Lake Country’s public art commission said days after the sculpture was unveiled in early May.
SPIRIT OF SAIL Kelowna
You probably don’t know this iconic sculpture by its official name, but by its nickname, The Sails.
There is no piece of art in the entire Okanagan as recognizable and impactful as Spirit of Sail.
Rising majestically 12 metres from a lakeside fountain at the foot of Bernard Avenue at the entrance to City Park, the curved white fiberglass sails have become a symbol of the city.
The Sails have been featured in countless tourism publications and promotions, tourist and resident photos and selfies.
Kelowna sculptor Robert Dow Reid created the installation for the City of Kelowna in 1978, drawing on his love of all things nautical from his boyhood on the sea in Scotland.
VEES STATUE Penticton
Arguably the most important event in Penticton’s storied hockey history is memorialized in a unique 10-metre high stainless steel sculpture in the roundabout in front of venerable old Memorial Arena.
Built nine years ago for the city’s centennial, the sculpture tributes the 1955 World Hockey champions Penticton Vees, who defeated the vaunted Russians to win the coveted title in Germany.
The sculpture was designed by Penticton artist Gerhard Moser and constructed at Ripley’s Stainless in Summerland. (Upon the invitation of Bruce Johnson, Moser also designed the sharks outside Skaha Lake Middle School and the mustangs outside Princess Margaret School.)
It depicts five hockey players holding a globe accompanied by the words, “Penticton Vees World Champions 1995.” The Hockey Canada logo is perched atop the globe and the sculpture is lit from beneath.