‘Prairie Shoots’ fits just right
By Gillian Slade on October 26, 2018.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade The history of the land and how it is used today influenced an artist’s design for Prairie Shoots, the sculpture being installed in the garden at the Veiner Centre. Prairie Shoots, fabricated from aluminum, has new shoots of vegetation emerging from the ground while others are at various stages of growth. Highly polished spheres, suspended in the shoots, are seeds, says artist Andy Davies. “Historically, this was the location of greenhouses going back a century,” said Davies. “To pay a little homage to that history was important to me.” The Veiner Centre represents a community full of vitality, and combining this with the history made Prairie Shoots a natural fit, he explained. Shoots emerging from the ground also represents new growth. “There is also a sense of family as well with the grouping so it’s family, its community, it’s new growth,” said Davies. “Vitality and seniors are a natural fit together.” A mirror-like finish to the spheres — the seeds — are a connection to agriculture in the area, said Davies. It also provides a reflection for people to see themselves and for fun photos to be taken. The varied heights of the shoots will perhaps have families seeing themselves — adults, parents, grandparents and children, Davies explained. “There’s nice play, I think, for everyone to see themselves figuratively and literally,” said Davies suggesting it could end up being the place of choice for family photos. Prairie Shoots was already attracting attention for all the right reasons at the Veiner Centre on Thursday. “The thought behind it certainly fits well,” said Sandy Seifert. Acknowledging the history of the area and greenhouses was a really good idea, said Bea May. “Carrying on tradition,” she added. It takes several months and more than just the artist’s vision and design to achieve the final work of art, said Davies. It took a draftsman, an engineer, a fabricator and installers on site. “We’re our own team. We’ve done a number of projects together, to great success I think,” said Davies as he issued some final instructions to get every shoot placed in exactly the right position. The installation is not to be taken lightly, either. There are piles driven down 10 feet into the ground so it does not matter how the wind blows, the piece of art is secure, said Davies. All the hardware providing stability is below the surface of the ground. “It’s important to me that it looks like it’s rising straight up out of the ground,” said Davies. According to the public art policy, a total of $100,000 was allocated for the Veiner Centre. There were 11 submissions in response to a request for proposals in November last year. Prairie Shoots was chosen by the public art committee as being the mostly suitable. The Lethbridge-based artist graduated from the University of Lethbridge in 2009 and has had several major public commissions in Alberta, Ontario and B.C. 21
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