Castlegar Sculpture Walk held its annual Awards Gala this weekend. Executive Director Joy Barrett was pleased to announce the event was sold out for the very first time. The winner of the People’s Choice Award, as voted on by the public was The Keeper by Argenta artists Spring Shine, Christopher Petersen and Yvonne Boyd.
“So this is the beautiful, huge, kind of creature that’s bending over in front of the RCMP station. It’s representative of Mother Nature; it’s got shrubbery in her hair. It’s just a really, really stunning piece. Probably one of the largest we’ve ever had.”
The Keeper will now remain as a permanent addition to Castlegar Sculpture Walk. It’s the second win for Shine and Petersen, who previously captured the coveted People’s Choice award in 2015 with
Regeneration, a stump made of logging cables and sporting a tiny cedar growing from its side. This year their friend and neighbour Yvonne Boyd was enlisted for the project.
The purpose behind the piece is said to emphasize “the onus they place on connectivity, appropriate stewardship and respect for the forests that surround us,” according to Barrett.
Now, they starting looking ahead to next year’s Sculpture Walk. “So we’re going through all of the artist applications and I can say that there’s some pretty amazing ones already. They haven’t been chosen, so we go through a jury process for that, but keep your eye out in May for all of the new ones.”
Barrett adds all the sculptures out right now are available for sale or lease.