Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of public art making its way to Kelowna

KELOWNA – A Kelowna entry sign and a sculpture outside of the waterfront Visitors Centre are just two of the new public art pieces coming to Kelowna.

A report going to city council Monday illustrates half a dozen art works that are either already in place or soon to come.

After a 2016 effort to commission an art piece for the new RCMP building on Cawston Avenue failed to attract acceptable submissions, the city hired a consultant to review its tendering process.

New rules mean only professional artists can apply, they are screened for qualifications then short-listed to make submissions for each project.

“These changes have yielded positive results, in terms of number and diversity of artists, and quality of submissions,” Robert Parlane, the city’s Parks and Buildings Planning Manager, states in his report to council.

The piece pictured above is planned for the police building and expected to be finished in early 2020 at a cost of $150,000. It’s from Make Studios and is said to “recognize the area’s past and current timber and milling operations.”

This new Kelowna sign will replace the old one at Sexsmith Road and Highway 97 that was removed when the intersection was rebuilt. Ted Fullerton is the artist and, if the $250,000 budget is approved by council ($100,000 comes from the province) it could be finished by early 2020.

Parlane’s report says the sculpture will “build upon the theme of a community as a collective of individual aspirations, interests, beliefs and values.”

Council will be asked to let the above sculpture grace the lakefront next to the new Visitor Centre.

Crystal Przybille is the artist who created this life-sized sculpture of Chief Swknc’ut. She was commissioned by Westbank First Nation to produce the work after discussions with the city since 2012, led to an agreement to put a statue in a prominent waterfront location. The sculture is currently at a foundry being cast in bronze and is expected to be installed in June of this year.

The Flower (below), by Studio F Minus is for the new Interior Health building downtown and should be finished by the summer of 2020.

It’s said to be “a strong allegory for the symbiotic relationship between a flower’s root system and the vitality of its bloom; and between Interior Health’s staff and their clients.”

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