Other Places, More Sculptures Part 5

The waterfront was behind me and I was now in the last leg of my walk. Just a few sculptures to find in the downtown section and I would be back at the hotel. Good thing too. I had received a message that the group would be going on a wine tour in about an hour. Checking my watch I saw that if I timed things right I would get back in plenty of time to spare. I headed along Bernard street since there were a couple there, and I would circle back towards Water street along a path to catch a few more.

First up after I passed "Sails" was whimsical piece in design and name. "Dancing Pedestrians" was between the sidewalk and street and the sculpture lived up to the name. Of course I don't think I have seen that many dancing pedestrians. Then again I live in a large city and the most we do is bob and weave around each other.


Across the street in front of a coffee shop was a piece called "Tree Scape". Stone pillar that tried to evoke a sense of a tree trunk. Rather smooth with a notch taken out of a side.


Luckily that the Kelowna downtown area is small. The next piece on my agenda was "Working Man". I like bronze pieces. They tend to hold up better over time then most other type of sculptures I have seen. This was one of a typical labourer sitting down waiting. Helmet on his knee and work box within easy reach when he was ready to get up.



Just down the street is another piece. I don't know what it's called, but the best guess I can tell from the map I was able to find is "Aborvitae". I could be wrong, and if anyone out there knows for sure, please let me know. It looks like a tree down in bronze cylinders. It's older then some of the sculptures I saw and the weathering on it was really interesting and added to the look.


A short walk across the street and three more pieces to go. By the bus stop hub for the city was a steel piece called "Running Man". Three silhouettes of a typical looking business man interlocked. As a typical business men he appeared in a hurry.


Across the street was what could be called the town clock. It is titled the W.A.C. Bennett Memorial Courtyard & Clock Tower. Pretty straight forward I think.

And the final piece I saw that trip was called "Circle of Friendship".

A very small piece overall. But very appropriate for the location. Just to the east of it, and I mean just east, was the entrance to a Zen Garden. I was running out of time, and it looked like something was going on. You can see two girls up to something in the left of my picture. From what I gathered from over hearing the group talk, it was some kinda of Anime fan get together. Zen, Anime, seems like a good mix I guess.

So that was my trek through Kelowna. Like I said, I go anywhere and I can find public art. I will return another time to show pictures of the winery we visited. Now that was an interesting experience. Best part about long walks? When you are done and can relax.

Paladin Phil

Other Places, More Sculptures Part 3

So, I left off planning my walk for the next day. We were up fairly early. Nothing was planned for the conference to about 7 at night so we had the whole day practically to ourselves. Most of the group had no plans after breakfast, and they were planning on going to a winery in the early afternoon. So after breakfast I bid then adieu and headed out to find the rest of the sculptures on the map. Now, I knew this would be a long walk. To get to the first one I was looking at about a 3 kilometer trek then the walk back picking up most of the rest on my return. It wasn't that bad a day out and I was looking forward to it.

The first piece I was looking for was called "Time Piece". It was done by a student in Visual Designs at Okanagan Community College. It took me a little while to get there, but Kelowna in the main part is very flat. I am used to hills so it took me no time to get to the College. While I was wandering around the campus looking for the sundial, I stumbled across another sculpture. It wasn't on the map, and when I searched around it, I couldn't find a plaque anywhere. I snapped a couple pictures and carried on. I hoped that I would find someone that might have an idea on the name.


I finally stumbled upon "Time Piece in the central courtyard of the campus. Steel plates welded together, rusting in the climate. A rather nice look. It was shaped like an open book with the pages caught in mid fan.

At the back was the actual part that you read for the sundial.

I was wondering how you read the time, there were no numbers really obviously noted. Then I looked closer at the inside of the sundial and got my answer. The triangles at the base of the sundial, click on the center picture for a better look, were notched. Reading from right to left gave you the time. The furthest right had seven notches, and the furthest left had five notches. So if you read the time right when I took this picture, it was approximately.... Well, you can figure it out. By the way, I forgot to adjust the time on my camera when I traveled out there. So the exif data is a little off.
Now the mystery piece. I saw that there was a security guard nearby in a little kiosk, so I thought that I would ask him if he knew the name of the piece in the front of the college. He thought for a minute and came up blank. Lucky for me he had been there for awhile and knew a little about how things had changed over the years. Apparently the sculpture had been about 30 feet closer to the main road for quite a few years. At the time there was a plaque associated with it. Well about 5-8 years previous it was moved and a parking lot put in. When they had moved the piece they forgot the plaque that went with it. So for the moment it will remain nameless.

And with that I returned whence I came, back to the downtown core. Of course I took the long way around. I had more pictures to take, and sculptures to find. Since I rambled on here, I shall pick this up again tomorrow. Keep walking.

Other Places, More Sculptures Part 2

Time to carry on with my walk through beautiful Kelowna. I believe I last left off with walking through the "Fruit Stand". As I came to the end of it, I was near the public library which had two pieces standing in front of it. One was a spiral type of bench, and another was a vertical mobius strip of stainless steel. The bench had cutouts, impressions, raised parts, all natural animals and sea shells. The mobius strip was movable and could spin. Upon it were different characters from many languages done in different methods. I actually found out about how it could spin when I went into the library for more information. I looked out and saw a couple of teenagers riding it while another was spinning it. I learned that both pieces were together and it was called "Natural Language"




When I talked to the librarian, she gave me a pamphlet on all the public sculpture in the city, which also contained a map. This simplified things for me immensely. So with pamphlet in one hand and camera in the other I proceeded to tour the surrounding area. The next piece was rather simple to find. After all it was just a stone throw away from the hotel I was staying in and quite visible. This being part of British Columbia, Dolphins were the order of the day for "Rhapsody". It wasn't a bad piece considering it was made out of fiberglass. It was also very well maintained. A towering piece with three dolphins "swimming" around each other. In the sunlight it's a very bright and beautiful piece.


According to my map there were several pieces not far from where I was currently standing. Along the beach and in the marsh were approximately about 4 works. I guess the map was out of date because I was only able to find two of the pieces.
The first piece on the beach I found was "I Had A Dream". A block of marble that was carved out. It just looks like a boulder until you examine it closely. The artist carved representations of moving water into it. when you catch it in good light it does resemble moving water. As well on one face is inscribed a poem that he wrote for it in English and Chinese.

I tried finding two other pieces that were in the marsh not far from the marble block with no luck and on my return to the hotel I caught the other piece. Along the boardwalk beside the lake it was named, appropriately, "On the Beach". A bronze piece it showed a family relaxing and laying down. Like some bronze pieces it was very stylistic of people. Not too bad looking, I guess.


I was getting a little tired by this time, and hungry. It had been a long day, so I returned to the hotel and looked over the map and pamphlet I had in hand and planned my journey for the next day. It looked like it was going to be a long walk to capture with my camera a few more public sculptures.

Paladin Phil