June 30, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Next Generation”

It has been a crazy weekend! Strangely it has been my first complete weekend away from the station and the airwaves since the first weekend of May! I took a mental holiday away from my typical day-to-day activities and had a couple “me days”. I watched a whole bunch of episodes of Hell’s Kitchen and Master Chef and chilled out. I dined at the Element and saw 22 Jump Street too! If you have not seen it yet go see it, it is better than the first!

I still managed to sneak into the station both Saturday and Sunday for a couple quick things and I still ventured to the gym but other than that I relaxed and prepared for my crazy Canada Day coming up tomorrow and Storage War III coming up on Saturday!

I actually took these photos of today’s Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day on Saturday, but I was a little preoccupied posting up some audio and a hour show skim (that you can check out here) and I never managed to write about today’s piece “Next Generation”.

What I love about “Next Generation” is how relatable it is; everyone can relate to “Next Generation”. Not everyone has been pregnant, but everyone has been the stressful bump in a woman’s stomach.  I love the round and curvy nature of the sculpture when looking at the sculpture from the side (as it displayed).

When you look at the sculpture head-on you get a different vibe from this lady, it is like another side of pregnancy.  Though the sculpture’s belly is still round her breasts and her backside are rounded and kind of pointy. I love that the baby bump is wider than the woman’s behind and that she is leaning forward a little bit, showing the stress creating another human being takes on a woman’s body.

“Next Generation” by artist Elusia Altman takes bonded aluminum (a very cold material) and makes it a warm, accessible and approachable piece that nearly everyone can relate to.  For more on Elusia Altman click here.

For my previous Sculpture Walk feature blog on the amazing “Sea Swimmer” click here.

A Hour With Kate On The GOAT!

Here is my most recent hour skim from the GOAT. I tried to keep it tight, bright and light for Saturday morning. Let me know what you think by emailing me, katebruceradio@gmail.com. I would love your feedback!

To hear my growth over the past year with Vista Radio Kootenays you can listen to a bevy of my on air demos on my personal website www.katebruce.ca! :)

The Goat's Daily Dose of Weird: June 27, 2014- Murphy The Not So Chubby Police Horse

I managed to get this up on Soundcloud yesterday but forgot to post it here on my blog. Why? Well I was feeling inspired to get over to the gym before it closed and it was a crazy day. I will write about my adventures at the gym soon; for now let Murphy the formerly overweight horse inspire you!

Murphy was tipping the scales at 1,900lbs when recruited to join the Portland Mounted Patrol Unit and was too large for all of the saddles. Last week Murphy made his first arrest after losing 200lbs and completing the required training to become one of Portland’s four-legged finest.

This is his story.

To check out pictures of Murphy the commit to fit police horse click here. 

June 25, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Sea Swimmer”

Today for my sculpture of the day I ventured down Columbia Avenue looking for a little inspiration. Today was one of those days where I wanted to jump in my car and gun it for Mexico, never to be seen or heard from again. Yes, today I was looking for a little extra freedom with heavy workload and I found it in “Sea Swimmer”.

To be completely honest with you “Sea Swimmer” does remind me of Disney and Pixar’s character crush from Finding Nemo, that is totally a compliment to artist Heather Wall because everyone knows the painstaking lengths the teams at Disney go to when making movies to mirror the animals they are portraying.

Oh the freedom of being a turtle set to swim the seas. To be honest with you I hate swimming and I consider what turtles do in the water much more graceful than actual swimming. To me (because I am horrible at it) swimming involves frantic movements that are so unlike turtles, turtles are so smooth and graceful in comparison to how I envision the average person swimming.

Heather Wall is another BC artist (from Powell River) represented on the Castlegar. Sculpture Walk. For more on Heather Wall click here.

“Sea Swimmer” is a green sea turtle created from steel, the detail on this piece is incredible. This green sea turtle seems so happy to be floating free from the world care. Not only is the turtle, focus of this piece, incredibly detailed the starfish and the fish that adorn this sculpture also are impeccably crafted from steel.

I am so impressed with “Sea Swimmer”, so much so that it is definitely in contention for my vote for the People’s Choice Award! By the way, "Sea Swimmer" is sculpture number sixteen in my blog series, that means I am halfway through Castlegar Sculpture Walk 2014!

Have you read my previous blog on “Dreamer”? If not you can check it out by clicking here.

June 24, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Dreamer”

Yesterday I featured the goddess standing guard of Columbia Avenue; today I am featuring the Watchman who stands a few steps off of Columbia Ave. “Dreamer”.  “Dreamer” stands guard outside of the Castlegar RCMP detachment and Castlegar's City Hall.

We have been working closely with RCMP Constable Rob Gardner over the past couple of days because Jenny and John took part in the big Cops for Kids fundraiser “Jail & Bail” at Castlegar Boston Pizza. I am so proud of them; they raised over $1100 in just over an hour while they were locked up!

I know this is a little off topic, but you can check out the video of Constable Rob Gardner here. The “summons” cracked me up; he did an excellent job “arresting” the Morning Herd Hosts!

For more on Cops for Kids and how to support a very important cause that helps our community click here. 

Back to “Dreamer”, this incredible sculpture standing a few steps off of Columbia Ave. reminds me of Supertramp’s song that shares the same name. Except this guy has his hands on his hips instead rather than his head. I have thought about this a surprising amount as I passed by “Dreamer” on my walks.

“Dreamer” is unlike any other sculpture on the walk, a metal work that is extremely detailed, large and as you can see reflective. I like “Dreamer” because he to me represents a futuristic, robotic man. As a person who spends eight hours a day in a room listening to music pretty much alone, I think the best way I can describe dreamer is by comparing him to music. If you combine Styx’s “Mr.Roboto” with Supertramp’s “Dreamer” I believe you would the character behind the sculpture “Dreamer” exhibited as part of Castlegar’s Sculpture Walk, just a thought.

“Dreamer” is an international sculpture coming from Rik Beuselinck who is from Belgium. For more on “Dreamer” and Beuselinck click here.

To check out my previous Castlegar Sculpture Walk featured blog on the Goddess of Columbia Avenue, “Groundling” click here.

June 23, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Groundling”

Today’s Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the day is The Goddess of Columbia Avenue, “Groundling”.

It is hard not to stop and take note of this incredible sculpture that sits on the corner of Columbia across the street from the Element. Being a full bronze sculpture, “Groundling” really does have that immortal feeling like a true goddess.

“Groundling” is another work from an artist-based right here in the Kooteanys. Merlyn Richelhoff is a graduate of Selkirk College’s Kootenay Studio Arts Metal Casting Program and you can learn more about him by clicking here.

Viewing “Groundling” today was well worth my minor seasonal allergy attack. I love that you can see the dark skies rolling into Castlegar in my photos. They were taken in succession within seconds but one side of “Groundling” looks like the beautiful Kootenay day we started out with and the other angle shows the dark clouds rolling in with rain.  I think the pictures really do show “Groundling” as the master of nature and community.

If you have not taken in Sculpture Walk you still have plenty of time. The weather has been incredible over the weekend; I have seen so many people with their voting cards on the streets enjoying the first half of Castlegar’s Sculpture Walk. If you have not taken part, do it now!

For my previous blog on “Rebirth” by another impressive British Columbian Artist, David Hunwick click here.

The Goat's Daily Dose of Weird: June 23, 2014- Exchange Student Gets Stuck In A Vagina Sculpture

Today's Daily Dose of Weird mixes awkward early adulthood with awkward artwork. 

Yes, I said it. Climbing into a vagina statue for a weird rebirth selfie is a strange thing to do. With that being said I am guessing my first reaction to a 32-ton giant vagina sculpture would most likely to be to take a less than refined selfie with it myself. I don't think I would jump in and start a weird Benjamin Button still photo. I'm a lady who does not "scooch" through areas so I doubt I would put myself in this tight situation! 

Clearly this sculpture needs to be housed at a European University’s Institute for Microbiology and Virology for good reason, I’m betting European students are much more mature and able handle giant genitalia without snapping photos with it. Specifically this sculpture can be found Tübingen University.

I would be pretty annoyed to be one of the German Firefighters called to the scene. Imagine that phone call. 

But, I think this kid has definitely learned a lesson that kids are (hopefully) learning more and more these days: don't take photos of yourself doing stupid things because as funny as they are when things go horribly wrong people will not be laughing with you; they will be laughing at you. I laughed at this kid, I hope you did too. I hope he learned his lesson and that he has prevented heavier students from messing about in the vajayjay in the future!

June 20, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Rebirth”

“Rebirth” is one of the largest sculptures on the 2014 Castlegar Sculpture Walk and it stands beside one of the first sculptures I featured here in my blog series, the incredibly unique “What The Nose Knows”.

Equally unique, “Rebirth” truly is one of a kind because it is constructed from the casts of ribs from the ribcage of a blue whale.

It is crazy how massive the ribs of a whale are! They are not something you commonly see downtown Castlegar (obviously) so they stick out like a sore thumb. “Rebirth” really puts things into perspective and proves that we really are just so small in comparison with other parts of our amazing world.  

Resembling a giant heart it is inspiring to see “Rebirth” prove that life can be recycled, that even in death we can still continue to go on and influence the world we have left behind. Thank you to the Sandman for sponsoring “Rebirth” from David Hunwick, another impressive artist that has a home base right here in BC. You can explore more of Hunwick’s work in Victoria at the Point Hope Shipyard. For more on David Hunwick and “Rebirth” click here.

For my previous blog about the Castlegar Sculpture Walk’s “Playful Souls” click here.