CBC Homestretch summer radio column focuses on public art

Public art in Calgary has become part of our landscape. We walk on it, we pass by it, kids play on it.

This summer, the Homestretch's Susan Holzman is taking a closer look at the stories behind some of these pieces of work, focusing on a few of the creations that are perhaps less well known, but well seen.

Art — particularly when it's publicly-funded — can be controversial. Before the Peace Bridge was built, there was public outcry, mostly due to its $25 million price tag.

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But now it's become part of the Calgary landscape. It's become a destination. People take their wedding photos on that bridge.

And we have to mention the giant blue ring. Love it or hate it, it got people talking and isn't that what art should do?

Generation X author Douglas Coupland was in Calgary a few months ago unveiling a piece he created inspired by our city.

"We hit this point 10 years ago, where when you said 'public art' people immediately thought of a big blob or a squiggle made of one thing," said Copeland.

"In San Francisco, they've got the Trans-America Pyramid which, when they were building it, there were riots and people were like 'That's so ugly and we hate it', and the moment they built it, it was 'Wow, that's the coolest building ever.'"

"I guess that didn't happen in the case of the blue ring, but unless you try, nothing's going to happen," said Copeland.

If you ride the LRT or walk near the 10th Street bridge in downtown Calgary, you've probably seen a piece of art called Ascension. It looks like an insect-like creature.

"They are large bronze bone-like sculptures with three legs, about two metres high each," said Dawn Ford, who's the program co-ordinator with the City of Calgary's public art program.

Ford says the nearby Buddhist monastery was active in engaging and helping the artist do research and also provided a blessing at the opening.

"The artist was inspired by the Buddhist idea that all life is sacred and they started to play with scale. So if you're up in the Calgary Catholic School Board building looking down at the site, the sculptures look small, like ants. But if you're in the park and sitting beneath it, you are the one who's small and you are the life that needs to be protected," said Ford.

Ascension cost $66,000 to build.

Susan Holzman's public art column runs every other week through the summer on The Homestretch on CBC Radio One in Calgary.