Bloedel Conservatory Welcomes Moving Marble
Cameron Kerr, Sculptures 2012
Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park
On November 1, four sculptures by Cameron Kerr were installed on the plaza in front of the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. The marble sculptures were commissioned by the City of Vancouver and will be on temporary display at the Conservatory. Their installation at Queen Elizabeth Park will allow many people the opportunity to see and interact with them as they visit the Conservatory and gardens.
The sculptures are exquisitely carved and visually grounded in modernist architecture, art history and local images and forms. The artist worked in this studio in Campbell River to shape these pieces of marble weighing from 2500 to 5000 pounds. The forms are influenced by the shape and contingencies of the stone itself during the carving process.
A prominent large granite and inlay sculpture by Kerr is situated on the corner of Hamilton and Georgia Streets at Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Other works by the artist can be found outside the Contemporary Art Gallery and Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
About the Artist
Cameron Kerr was born in Campbell River, British Columbia. He studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and apprenticed with Manuel Neri in the marble quarries of Carra¬ra, Italy; he also studied in Masters Classes with William Tucker and Anthony Gormley and at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design from 2002-2007. He has worked as a sculptor and fisherman since that time. His works have been exhibited in Germany, Italy and BC.
About the Program
The sculptures were commissioned by the City Public Art Program as part of an initiative in 2010 called Changing Times, an open call to artists to propose projects to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Vancouver. The opportunity was to commission new works for short-term and permanent installations in a range of media to mark time, record change, and identify unique geographic and civic spaces, characters or communities that have animated the city or are markers for its potential in the future. One hundred projects were proposed; eight were shortlisted for development and six projects were commissioned.
Related articles
- Before the Marble Goes – A Free Public Art Talk with Cameron Kerr (ourcityourart.wordpress.com)
Looks expensive, such a huge block of marble. It’s nice that they’re placed outside, so a lot of people can see it
These things are completely inappropriate, offensive even. Wrong material for the locale, wrong design style for the locale, terrible sloppy placement by some city worker. They look like debris that fell off a truck right outside the conservatory..
Whoever commissioned/approved these has absolutely no understanding or appreciation of Queen Elizabeth Park. Marble, hard modernist shapes and lush, wet, west-coast rainforrest do *not* go together..
Please remove ASAP. Use them as building materials or landfill somewhere, lol…