June 12, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Community Garden, Heirloom Seeds”

It was a smelly, hazy morning today in the Kootenay Boundary. We finally have been on the receiving end of some rain. Great for our local gardeners and for lil' ole me because I had been putting off washing my car. Thunderstorms knocked out my Internet for a while tonight so I am just getting today’s post up right now.

I am going to keep it short and sweet for today’s Castlegar Sculpture Walk work of the day. I tried to pick something colourful and inspiring on my morning walk about town, determined to not let the smelly day get me down. I think I managed to find a little vibrancy in the grey day from the work Kootenay Gallery has sponsored called “Community Garden, Heirloom Seeds”.

Gardening is a pastime I worry about. I hope kids today pick up gardening because we really need the beauty flowers and plants add to our communities and homes. I am horrible with plants. I have three in my apartment because I know they are mentally stimulating and they make me happy; I don’t think they are huge fans of their new adopted home living with me. Though I think they are slowly recovering from their first life on the shelves of Walmart, I certainly do not have a green thumb.

I love this sculpture because it reminds me of my mother. She had an old decoration at her business that was a bouquet of wooden block flowers that I repainted over and over again as a kid. It looked so tacky, I hope she threw it out; I have not seen it in years.

“Community Garden, Heirloom Seeds” is absolutely beautiful; unlike my tacky wooden block flowers. The colors are truly beautiful on this metal work sculpture, it was so hard to photograph this sculpture in all of its glory because the colours are much more vivid in real life and it was really hard to capture the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow holding these magnificent metal flowers is absolutely overflowing with the blooming beauties.

I hope you are inspired to get out to the garden and grow something special of your own!

I am very happy that “Community Garden, Heirloom Seeds” is from another BC artist, Cajsa Fredin from Invermere! For more on Fredin and  “Community Garden, Heirloom Seeds” click here. 

To check out my previous Sculpture Walk blog on “Seventy-Six Trombones” click here.

Castlegar Sculpture Walk Kick-Off 2014

Another sure sign that we are in the last weeks of spring and that Summer 2014 is rapidly approaching

is that Castlegar Sculpture Walk is once again beautifying Downtown Castlegar.

Saturday night it was my pleasure to represent Mountain FM at the Sculpture Walk Opening Gala. Many of the artists were on-hand to meet-and-greet sponsors, volunteers and fans of Sculpture Walk.

The event was held (fittingly) at Kootenay Gallery and catered by the Element Club Bar and Grill.

To be honest with you, I had visited The Element earlier in the day for lunch. If you read this blog you know that I am a BIG fan of the team at the Element and I visit at least once a month to check out the monthly special. This month is Mexican Fiesta and features authentic tastes of Mexico. I'll have a blog with all the mouth-watering details on the amazing new additions to the menu tomorrow.

Now, back to Sculpture Walk talk.

Castlegar can now say that it is “The Sculpture Capital of Canada”, the phrase has been trademarked --- just one of the many happy announcements from last night’s gala.

I have never seen anything quite like Sculpture Walk. I think it is absolutely fabulous. For those who are not familiar with Sculpture Walk it is an impressive mixture of sculptures from local, Canadian and international artists spread throughout town. Sculptures are sponsored by businesses and compete for thousands of dollars in prize money throughout the summer. You can vote on your favourite for the annual People’s Choice Award.

Mountain FM is on the Sculpture Walk route and the work we sponsored last year (“The Green Man” by Daniel Kloc) was constantly being viewed by passers-by and people doing the sculpture walk until it was removed to prepare for this years showcase.

Here is a photo of all the artists that were at the Opening Gala.

For everything you need to know about Castlegar’s Sculpture Walk “The Sculpture Capital of Canada” click here. When you visit the event page you can see work’s that have been part of the previous Sculpture Walk’s and the maps for this year’s exhibition.

If you get a chance, visit Kootenay Gallery and checkout the very talented high school students artwork that is being displayed right now. We were blown away by the local talented youth that have their work displayed at Kootenay Gallery.

Next week I will do the entire walk and update you on it! For now here is our Mountain FM/1035 The Bridge sculpture Echino II by Greg Jones.