The City of Calgary has unveiled a new piece of public art at the Trans-Canada Highway and Bowfort Road interchange in the northwest.
The structure is the first of two art installations, which together cost the city $500,000.
“The other thing that is really important is this area, particularly the south side is the base of Paskapoo Slopes, which is a very important Indigenous site,” she added.
The installation, which was created by the artist Del Geist, features four columns that, the city said Thursday, pay tribute to Blackfoot culture, and are meant to symbolize the “four seasons, directions and elements and four human stages.”
Suspended within each of these towers are rundle rock stones – which are found only in Alberta.
“When you are under them, the stones float in the steel cribs that have been built, and when you look at them, you can actually see the water ripples from the lake that was here 227 million years ago,” Iley said.
“There are also the fossils of animals from the seabed at that time.”
The stones are from the personal collection of geologist Louis Kamenka, who operates the Kamenka Quarry at Harvie Heights near Canmore.
The artwork has, so far, received mixed reactions from people on social media with one person calling it “interesting,” and another claiming it looks like a “bunch of rocks between poles.”
But, Iley said at a media conference Thursday, that how Calgarians feel about the work is “in the eye of the beholder.”
“One of the interesting things is we have a number of different projects going on in transportation around the city and I think people will find different things for different tastes.”
She said the city chose international artists because it is part of a trade agreement, which means any commissions over a certain price point have to be made through open competition.
Iley said the agreement also benefits Calgary artists.
“We want our artists here to have the same opportunities to compete for jobs elsewhere as others do, to compete for jobs here.”
On the north side of the highway, the city said, will be drumlins, or hills, that are meant to resemble glaciers.
Construction on the Trans-Canada Highway/ Bowfort Road interchange is expected to be completed by the end of August.
Global News contacted the Siksika First Nation for reaction to the artwork. This article will be updated when we receive their response.
— With files from Aurelio Perri
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