Sussex sculptor's Resurgo will rise outside new Moncton plaza

Sussex artist Peter Powning's proposal for a sculpture that pays tribute to Moncton's resiliency has been chosen to grace the city's new downtown plaza.

Moncton council approved Powning's piece Resurgo after it was recommended by the selection committee for the downtown centre public art competition.

The installation will cost the city about $181,000.

The burnished stainless steel piece, a tree reaching about 6.7 metres high, up through the letters that form Resurgo, will sit near the plaza, at the corner of Main Street and Highfield streets. 

"It's visually and historically relevant," Powning told city councilors Monday night. 

Resurgo, Moncton's Latin motto, means "I rise again."

Powning said the piece acts as an "apt motto for the Acadian population that has reinserted its vital presence and contribution to the community."

But the sculpture "serves all language groups equally," he said.

The tree is a powerful symbol for Moncton, "for both the unity and the complexity of the community," Powning said.

"Like a deep-rooted tree, the city grows and thrives despite loss and change. It is to this resiliency that I have created [it], with its frieze of the many branches. I wanted the sculpture to have a sense of play, dancing letters in the process of reorganizing."

The sculpture "is a state of unlikely balance that gives it a feel of movement," he said.

"I wanted it to work on many levels, to mean different things to different people."

Concerns over name

Powning said the city wants the piece to be a symbol and landmark for the community, but Coun. Robert McKee raised the possibility of confusion, with the name Resurgo attached to the downtown plaza as well as the home of the Moncton Museum.

"Is there any concern that there'd be confusion with Resurgo Place and the museum and having the name in such big letters here attached to this facility as well?" McKee asked.

Catherine Dallaire, general manager of parks and leisure, culture and heritage, suggested the selection committee discussed the name and overcame any concerns.

"It does provide an opportunity for us to see and be reminded of our motto in different places of the community," Dallaire said. "There will be communications that go along with this. 

"The committee really did feel that having the word Resurgo is bigger in many ways than Resurgo Place. It really is bigger than a public art piece. It is our city's motto."

There were nine proposals for the art project, and Powning was chosen from among four finalists. The others were  Guylaine Cyr, André Lapointe and Luc A. Charette.