OUR TOWN: The Field Manual, St. Louis Hotel

sadly, an art exhibit, like the river that hosts it, must eventually move on. Whether you were deeply attached to or entirely unaware of the temporary public art installations that enlivened the East Village RiverWalk for three years, you’ll want to get to the St. Louis on Friday afternoon (Dec. 2) to bid the project farewell.

Daniel J. Kirk is a member of a loose collective of artists who dubbed themselves Light and Soul for the duration of this multi-dimensional commission titled The Field Manual: A Compendium of Local Influence, which took months to research, and many more to execute. In 2012, long before the first, now dominant, condos had even broken ground, Kirk, along with Ivan Ostapenko and Kai Cabodyna, was hired by the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation to interpret the confluence of nature, culture and modern infrastructure that comprises the history and character of the East Village.

“We wanted to tell the story of what East Calgary may have been, and what it may become,” says Kirk, who adds that it was illuminating for him personally to get to know so intimately the city he grew up in. “The East Village is a place where past meets future, where old traditions intersect and inform new trends.” Using paint, EPS foam, steel, stucco and other materials, he and his fellow artists created three sculptures and covered 16 surfaces, including bridge abutments, storage sheds and public washrooms, with largescale murals and vinyl-wrapped digital prints. The installation of the series took place during the 2013 flood and thus became a dramatic work of art itself, captured and spun into a short documentary by local filmmaker Max Krewiak.

The pieces were taken down earlier this fall and replaced with scenes of Canadian wildlife by landscape artist Curtis Van Charles Sorensen. If you hurry, however, you can not only see (and potentially purchase) many of the original Light and Soul pieces, but get a behind-the-scenes look at the artists’ collaborative working sketches and forms from which the series sprung

While we’ll miss seeing the playful and poignant red and blue hands of “Cat’s Cradle” protruding from beneath the flyover, we’re already getting some equally profound and startling vibes from Sorenson’s leaping coyotes and indigenous flora. Temporary though these installations are, their effect is anything but.

The Field Manual: A Compendium of Local Influence ends Friday, Dec. 2, 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. At St. Louis Hotel, 430 8th Ave. S.E.