Sorry kids, the Front Street parkade is going to the birds.
Muse Atelier presented the city with two potential designs for a new public art piece to be installed on the parkade – one featuring birds (Birds on a Branch) and the other showing children’s faces (Peek-A-Boo). Council unanimously supported the birds’ motif for a public art mural that will adorn the parkade overlooking Westminster Pier Park.
“They are songbirds of New Westminster, resting on branches,” said Nancy Chew, a visual artist with Muse Atelier. “It’s a playful counterpoint to the industrial façade of the parkade and the working waterfront. The identified theme here is when urban meets nature.”
Jacqueline Metz, who is also an artist with Muse Atelier, said the Birds on a Branch design is a light-hearted design that would be woven in to the fabric of the chain-link façade on the parkade.
“I think New West applies a nod to heritage everywhere. We are really very strong in promoting heritage. I would like to see more nature in our city,” said Coun. Mary Trentadue. “The birds to me speaks of nature.”
Coun. Bill Harper supports the bird design, but pointed out a potential problem with the Birds on a Branch concept sketch. While the concept statement indicates the mural will feature images of “songbirds” resting on branches, he noted that the sketch seems to contain a stellar jay and a crow.
“I wouldn’t characterize a crow as a songbird,” he said. “I’m wondering which birds these really are because we are going to face these kinds of questions.”
The artists explained the birds depicted in the concept sketch were intended to give an ideas of the mural’s appearance, but won’t necessarily be in the final product. They noted it’s unlikely a crow would be located in the final design – which gave council members something to crow about.
“Crows are wonderful birds. There is more and more being learned about them. They are extremely intelligent. They are able to make tools,” said Coun. Jaimie McEvoy. “I think they are the quintessential bird in the community. I would really defend the crows.”
Mayor Jonathan Cote thinks Birds on a Branch is a great concept and will be stunning to view, not only from Westminster Pier Park, but also from the water or coming across the Fraser River via the SkyBridge.
“When you are down on the waterfront, there is sometimes in early evening it seems about 20,000 crows fly over that area. There are many birds in the area, but that is something that happens very regularly. I have seen it many times where a large flock of crows do go right over where this public art piece will be,” he said. “Overall, I think this is a great concept.”
Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks, culture and engineering, said the city will be proceeding with finalizing the design, taking into account all comments made by council at its last meeting.
To view the early concept of Birds on a Branch, you can view them on the city's website at www.newwestcity.ca. Click on City Hall, then Council Meetings, then Agenda. You'll find the Parkade Public Art Selection report on the Nov. 16 agenda - keep in mind it's preliiminary and the images and colour will change before the design is approved.
