Eleven coloured and polished angled surfboards, meant to mimic an orca coming up for air, anchors a public art installation targeted for the approach to the new Johnson Street bridge.
City council, sitting as committee of the whole, is scheduled Thursday (Dec. 14) to receive a report on the sculpture and other public space designs for the waterfront near the bridge. The entire project is estimated to cost $3.65 million, including the $250,000 sculpture designed by Victoria Artist in Residence Luke Ramsey, and Indigenous Artist in Residence Lindsay Delaronde.
Funds from several 2017 projects that came in under budget or were cancelled amounted to $650,000, money that will be combined with $3 million from the 2018-22 financial plan, to build public spaces surrounding the bridge.
The sculpture is described as showing, from different angles, “movement from stillness,” and looking through it makes it appear as if the structure is disappearing, “a connection to nature’s challenges for survival,” according to the artists’ statement.
Designs for parks on either side of the bridge are also included in the report.
