Terry Fox art project sets finish line at $1 million
Waterfront installation to mark 40th anniversary of Marathon of Hope
Organizers behind a new art project honouring Terry Fox are expecting to raise a million dollars to open it on the Toronto waterfront in fall of 2020.
The tribute called We Are Shaped by the Obstacles We
Face, led by the Legacy Art Project Toronto and designed by Jon Sasaki and DTAH, will help mark the 40th anniversary of Fox’s cross-Canada Marathon of Hope.
The installation will be at 439 Queens Quay W., next to the Toronto Music Garden, steps away from Fox’s Marathon of Hope route through Toronto.
The project, which will outline the iconic silhouette of Fox from the west side, creates an optical illusion on one-storeyhigh sculpted granite slabs along a curving pathway.
“The design strives to convey Terry Fox’s legacy in an experiential way, to inspire people to keep pushing forward and to recognize all that can be achieved with a collective perspective,” Sasaki said in a press release.
Last summer, when Toronto city council named more than 4,000 square metres of waterfront space, the new art installation was revealed in a public art competition and selected as the new home for a permanent, citizen-funded art park.
However, although the land is available, the funding needs to come in to complete the project, said Geri Berholz, co-lead of the Legacy Art Project Toronto.
“We want to give people an opportunity to get involved to join their legacy and Terry’s legacy,” said Berholz. “This is going to be an endearing tribute to the lives that cancer research has saved and the money that was made in the last four de- cades.”
Leslie Scrivener, also a co-lead of the Legacy Art Project Toronto, said that after they raise the funds, the construction of the project will begin.
Scrivener was a longtime Star feature writer who became friends with Fox while covering his Marathon of Hope in April 1980, shortly after Fox started his cross-country journey. She was assigned to follow Fox weekly and write about him in a feature the Star called “Running With Terry.” Scrivener later went on to write a book called Terry Fox: His Story.
Both Berholz and Scrivener said they hope they can raise the money to build the installation in the next six months.
“We’ve got the design. We need the funds to actually pay for the art fabrication,” said Berholz. Donations can be made on their official website, legacyartproject.com.
City Councillor Joe Cressy, whose ward includes the installation site, congratulated Sasaki and DTAH, with James Roche as the lead landscape architect, on their multidisciplinary design. City residents and visitors will enjoy it for generations to come, he said.
Isadore Sharp, founder and chair of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and founder of the Terry Fox Run, pledged his personal support for this new tribute. He said it “would become a Toronto landmark, both a place for reflection and a catalyst for future fundraising, so that Terry’s goal of finding a cure for cancer can be achieved.”