Fun Calgary Public Art Walk, Run or Cycle
This post was inspired by Doug Driediger (a regular Everyday Tourist readers, and a respected muralist) who did this run with some friends and when he got back asked me if I had any background information on the artwork they saw.
I immediately put together some notes and sent them to him. That was back in December, but I made a note that I should transform this into a blog in the spring when people are more apt to be looking for fun places to walk, run or ride.
#1 Bloom by Michel de Broin, 2015, St. Patrick’s Island, Measuring 23 metres tall, Bloom comprises 10 elements (six actual streetlights, three legs, a polyhedron and a foundation) that together weigh more than 8,150 kilograms (approximately 18,000 pounds).
#2 Wolf and the Sparrows, by Branden Vickers, was unveiled in 2019. It is a 16 ft tall statue that was inspired by an 1898 sculpture of General James Wolfe, by John Massy Rhind in 1898. Commissioned by the City of Calgary as part of the 12 Street Bridge revitalization project, Wolfe and the Sparrows consists of a traditionally rendered monument that appears intact from a distance, but as the viewer moves closer the sculpture transforms into a flock of sparrows scattering into the distance. The concept for Wolfe and the Sparrows resulted from a three-month collaborative process with the citizens of the Inglewood neighborhood in Calgary.
#3 The Mighty and Once Many This bison sculpture in front of Fort Calgary was created by Lethbridge artists, Don Toney and was unveiled in October 2,000. The Bison was created in partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (and their Great Plains Project) as part of the Bison Pathway project. It marked the first outdoor exhibit along a planned interpretive pathway on Fort Calgary’s 40-acre site. This bison statue represents the many Plains Bison that freely roamed this region, before they were overhunted to the point of extinction by settler populations in the mid to late eighteen hundreds. This life-size bronze statue is meant to stand as a symbol of the Great Plains and illustrate the significance of this place at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers, which for 10,000 years was influence by the Bison.
#4 Corridor of Connection, 4th Street SE mural, by Michelle Hoogveld, 2018. It took Hoogveld around seven weeks and 70 gallons of paint to finish the Corridor of Connection mural, which spans 950-feet and runs along both sides of the underpass. During the early stages of painting, Hoogveld had a private education session with elder Adrian Wolfleg where they talked about the confluence of the rivers, its importance over time and how community is expressed in Indigenous culture. “Through this discussion, we discussed the oral traditions of storytelling which added to the significance of incorporating the lips into the mural,” Hoogveld says. “I also wanted the lips to portray everyone as an expression of who we are and what we share and communicate with others ultimately connecting with one another.” The underpass physically connects East Village with Victoria Park, two of Calgary’s oldest neighbourhoods.
#5 Travelling Family, by Nathan Menguinis, BUMP mural program 2021 “The man is dressed in his Sunday best with his hair braided in four braids, just like what I do when dancing at powwows or something very important. He is leading the way and his rifle is yellow to represent protection. The blue blanket with white dots is hanging over one shoulder to show he is a respectable warrior and the white paint is something the Dèné do when going into battle or dancing at a powwow.The woman is holding a staff to represent peace and she also has their baby in a cradle board on her back.
#6 Van Gogh Monumental, by Bruno Catalano, 2020, owned by Strategic Group, owners of the UPTEN tower where it graces the entrance. It is part of the artist’s “Travellers” series, which depict figures with sections of their body missing. Perhaps a comment on the fact that we never really know everything about others or even ourselves. We are all travellers in life looking for something more.
#7 “The World’s Tallest Mural” by Mirko Reisser, known international as DIAM, 2022, The mural is 95 meters high, making it the tallest mural in the world. The goal was to add some colour to the urban landscape that is full of aging buildings, railway tracks and parkades.
#8 “Emergent” by Jill Anholt, 2017, The Edison plaza, Emergent takes inspiration from the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway, borrowing elements of blackened rails and wooden ties to create both a place-making sculpture and a welcoming seating area, lit with the classic CPR red. The work serves as a reminder of the layers of the past, as is evident in the design of the seating – shapes speaking to the first discovery of the natural gas in Alberta by the CPR, and in the angling of the vertical sculptural elements, reflecting the city’s iconic Calgary Tower. Using contemporary materials, Emergent presents a play between the past and present, activating the plaza on one of Calgary’s most historic and prominent corners. It adds some fun into Calgary’s corporate downtown.
#9 “Conversation” by William McElcheran, 1980, bronze, Commission for Conversation was initiated by Norcen Energy Resources Limited in 1978. The sculpture was donated to the City of Calgary in 1981 and is currently in the City of Calgary Public Art Collection. When installed may thought the businessmen looked like Easterners — “fat cats” of Toronto’s Bay Street, as McElcheran called them. The portly pair both sport the mid-century business uniform of trim haircut, tie, overcoat, fedora and briefcase. Their necks are cartoonishly thick, obscuring jawlines under rounded flesh, while their voluminous forms taper up to pint-size narrow-brimmed hats, corroborating the air of good-natured satire.
#10 In 1995, Doug Driediger painted the “Giving Wings To The Dream” on the side of the former CUPS (Calgary Urban Projects Society) building on 7th Ave SW across from the Convention Centre LRT Station that still stands today. It depicts a large human hand reaching up (a hand-up, not a hand-out) to a white dove that is flying off into the sky. What a better metaphor for a CUPS, a non-profit society that reaches out to Calgarians whose lives are in turmoil to help them turn their lives around. CUPS has since moved to a different location but this is Calgary’s oldest and perhaps most loved mural.
#11 Wonderland, by Jaume Plensa, 2012, plaza of Bow Tower, 12 m tall, bent-wire of a young girl, commissioned by two sister oil and gas companies – Encana and Cenovus whose corporate headquarters was in the building. It is thought that the white head of a young girl represents the hopes and dreams of a young city like Calgary
#12 Brotherhood of Man also known as “the Family of man” by Mario Armengol, ten 6.5m tall aluminum figures. It was created by Spanish artist Mario Armengol as part of the British Pavilion for the Montreal Expo in 1967. After their Expo showing, Brotherhood of Mankind was bought at auction by a businessman and benefactor, who then donated it to the City of Calgary for tax purposes.
Link: Brotherhood of Mankind” Sculpture Successfully Evokes A Sense of Brotherhood?
#13 Touch Traces” Unveiled on June 29, 2022, Touch Traces is the fifth public art installation to adorn bridge abutments and other surfaces along Jack & Jean Leslie RiverWalk in East Village. Created by Calgary artist Cassie Suche, the work is comprised of hundreds of fingerprints collected from the East Village community that have been layered and distorted to create contemporary and abstract images. Fingerprints reference intimate touch, tactility, and connection to the outer world. They are ghostly impressions overlapping and compiling everywhere while remaining mostly unseen. Touch Traces showcases the beautiful complexity of these organic marks while highlighting our individuality within community. The artwork was created using more than 640 fingerprints sourced from the East Village community, which Cassie collected in spring 2022 through pop-ups at the Drop-In Centre, carya Village Commons.
#14 “The Same Way Better/Reader” by Ron Moppett is a giant 110' long mosaic mural with close to a million pieces of tile that took two years to design and make. The five panels that evolve from a ‘glacial whiteness’ to a Chinook, European immigration and a reference to William Reader, Calgary’s first superintendent of parks and cemeteries. The work’s central theme, according to the artist, is genesis. Starting from the south and moving north toward the Bow River along Riverfront Lane (our first pedestrian-only street), each panel tells a story of genesis – of a place and neighbourhood, of a city and province – delivered in a way that’s abstract, poetic, joyful, colourful and playful.
#15 This mural is part of Calgary Municipal Land Corporations ongoing public art program that commissions local artists to paint murals on 10 pillars of the highway over passes along the Jack & Jean Leslie River Walk. The current abstract works are by Cassie Suche.
#16 “Promenade” by Julian Opie, 2012, part of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation’s East Village public art program. Created by British pop artist Julian Opie, this LED tower features six characters (each based on a real person) who make up a cadre of city pedestrians walking around the tower. Opie has created similar pieces in cities around the world. Jennifer Walking is another Opie piece in the lobby of the Atlantic Avenue Art Block in Inglewood.
#17 “The Device to Root out Evil”, by Dennis Oppenheim, formerly located at Ramsay Exchange building along 24th Ave. SE. was removed in 2014 after the lease expired but then reinstalled in East Village’s 5th Street Square for another 5 years in 2019. The artwork was originally created in 1997 to represent the United States as the Venice Biennale.
Last Word
So, if you are looking for something fun to do this spring or summer, here is a fun art experience. If you are visitor to Calgary, this would be a fun way to spend a few hours exploring Calgary’s downtown. There are lots of cafes and patios along the way to stop chat about your Calgary experience.