Orcas in the City
Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor
heard of the public art project called "Orcas In The City." This is a
set of sculptures designed and decorated by BC artists and sponsored
by local businesses and individuals. We've gone around and looked at
almost all of them, and there are some beautiful pieces. I'd suggest
that you get out and see at least some before they get taken down.
In October the Orcas will be auctioned to raise funds for the BC Lions
Society's Easter Seal Operations and the Canucks' for Kids Fund.
Tourism Vancouver and the sponsors invite you to stroll the streets of
Vancouver and spot these majestic Orcas. You can pick up a leaflet
outlining the locations at Tourism Vancouver, or get a PDF version at
the Website, www.orcasinthecity.com. You can also call them at 604-
873-1865 or 1-800-818-4483.
The pamphlet is not terribly helpful. In fact, in a number of cases
it is downright misleading. The map (stylized and not to scale) warns
you, with mammoth understatement, that the locations of the orcas may
vary, and you should check for up-to-date information at the Website.
The Website information is similarly misleading.
There is a listing of the orca sculptures. The list is marginally
less misleading, although it's still got some howlers.
The list gives information about the location, artist, sponsor, and
the name of the sculpture. Below, I've added some annotations. Which
leads to thoughts about how to "review" the sculptures.
An awful lot of the orca statues are simply treated as an oddly shaped
canvas. You might as well just paint garbage cans. The artists who
have attempted to make use of the orca, or at least marine, theme are
definitely better. That holds for the colours as well: those artists
who have used blues and greens have also produced better work. In
addition, some of the artisans have attempted to make effective use of
the shape of the orca by following the lines of the body and fins with
the elements of the design painted on it. (All the sculptures are
based on an identical form.) Some "artists" seem to have dashed off
quick and primitive references to the sponsor on the orca form: few of
these add anything of value to the project.
1 Burrard/Canada Place Angie Benbow Tourism Vancouver
Snapshots of Vancouver - interesting mostly because of the medium:
this is a mosaic, where most of the others are painted. Placed west
of the tourism office at the corner of Burrard and the road in front
of Canada Place.
2 Canada Place Richard Cole Imperial Oil Ltd. Forest Floor
3 Canada Place Marc Luc Poelvoorde HMY Airways
Travels with My-Orca George - decoupage of doctored postcards
showing an orca in tourist gear in various tourist destinations.
Cute. Also peeling. Actually placed across the street from Canada
Place, west of the Waterfront Hotel.
4 Canada Place Bill Thomson Vancouver Convention &
Exhibition Centre Recycling Orca - cute: body lined with old licence
plates, fuses, etc.
5 Canada Place Tiko Kerr Spirit of Vancouver
The Spirit of Whale Being - pictures of stuff around Vancouver.
6 Granville Square Tiko Kerr The Vancouver Sun
The Well Read Whale - I like books (love Whale Tales: see 41) but
this sculpture didn't do much for me. Also one of the big goofs on
the map/guide which does *not* tell you that it is inside *two* layers
of walls within 200 Granville St. (Sun/Province building).
7 Howe/Canada Place Rhonda-Lee Laurie
McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Spirit of Community - kids. I
like kids, too, but this isn't interesting.
8 Howe/Cordova Mary Savage PricewaterhouseCoopers
Flora Orca - flowers. Nicely done, actually, but it points out that
most of these orcas have nothing to do with orcas.
9 Cordova Plaza Ken Skoda Methanex Corporation Myth Orca - this
one does, at least, have a marine theme. Nice colours and use of the
form. I could look at it for a while.
10 Burrard/Cordova Shannon Belkin Borden Ladner Gervais
Remains of a Garden
11 Burrard/Cordova Christy Deslauriers & Janet Woll
Phillips Hager & North Investment Management All Things BC - this
one has a skindiver on it. Ugly.
12 Bentall 5 Randie Feil Teekay Shipping - Orcane Dreams - I'm not
sure whether the figures on this sculpture are supposed to be
plankton, ancient life beginning in the sea, or what you find growing
on the bottom of large boats. But it's nicely done and uses the
theme.
13 Burrard/W. Pender, Interior Joe Mandur, Jr.
Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel The Whale Riders - Haida symbols,
exquisitely done. Definitely in the top five.
14 Burrard/W.Pender Cim MacDonald CIBC Shimorca - stitched
together?
15 W. Hastings/Thurlow Noni Raskin
Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Hotel World Orca - opposite the
Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside. Decoupage of flags of the
world.
16 W. Hastings/Thurlow Nadina Tandy
Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside Country Drive - not a
marine theme, but an interesting use of the form.
17 W. Pender/Bute David Haughton Ventures West Capital Ltd.
Scarred Orca - NOT at Bute. Two blocks east, near Burrard. Looks
like an orca, but I don't really see the point.
18 Thurlow/W. Pender Jerry Whitehead Manulife Financial
Orca Who Dances With Lights - kinda like Inuit/plains First Nations
stained glass. See also 23.
19 W.Georgia/Thurlow Bill Helin Terasen Inc. Wah' Yooks
20 Burrard/Melville Dean Lauze Canaccord Capital & Brad Wait
Bobby Orrca - the first of many orcas in hockey jerseys
21 Burrard/Melville Mehran Razmpoosh Angus One Ltd. Daniel - I
like it, but I have no idea what it means
22 Burrard/Dunsmuir Michael Tickner
Polaris Minerals Corporation Uplifting Westcoast Spirit
23 W. Pender/Howe Jerry Whitehead Global TV Dancing Orca - see
18
24 Harbour Centre, Interior Claudia Bos
MacDonald Realtors Lorne Goldman Ltd. Grooves - trying for a messy
street graffiti look?
25 Homer/Dunsmuir John Ferrie BC Hydro Power Smart
Hydra Spirit - with a dam on it, of course
26 W.Georgia/Homer Suzy Birstein Web Impressions
Carmen Mer-Orca
27 W.Georgia/Seymour, Interior Ross Penhall Scotiabank Urban
Orca
28 Granville/W.Georgia Joanna Bullock
Varshney Capital Corporation Cora
29 W.Georgia/Granville Krisdy Shindler CKNW Nanorca
30 W.Georgia/Howe Sibeal Foyle Petro Canada Orca Borealis - very
pretty
31 Pacific Centre Atrium, Interior Shegon Mosaic Works KPMG
Bjossa the Orca in the Sky - haven't found it yet. Don't do much
shopping.
32 W. Georgia/Howe Stephanie Hill Clark, Wilson Orca Home
33 W. Georgia/Hornby, Interior Mandy Boursicot HSBC Bank Canada
Gilded Orca
34 Hornby/Robson, Interior Karacters Design Group DDB Canada
Reflections - I think you might have to spend a lot of time reading
it
35-37 Robson/Hornby Ross Agro & Ovidio BC Lottery Corp. jackpod!
- cute name, but not very artistic as sculpture
38 Robson/Burrard Judson Beaumont Bruce Allen Orca Presley - as
I understand it, the most photographed orca in the pod
39 there is NO orca 39
40 Sutton Place Hotel, Interior Arnt Arntzen Orcasmic Voyage - not
actually inside the hotel, just outside the door, but buried deeply
enough within the entrance that driving by and catching a glimpse is
about all you can do before another taxi comes along
41 Robson/Homer Judson Beaumont Starbucks Whale Tales - uses the
form of the orca to outline a set of bookshelves, painted to look like
wood. The best part is the titles of the books on the shelf to do
with whales (Podzilla, Return of the Living Whale, Tea-Orca-Fee, Wee
Little Winkie Whale, The Lord of the Whales, The Whale of Oz,
Huckleberry's Fin, Peter Pod, The Pod Father, The Beautician and the
Whale, Charlotte's Whale, The Runaway Whale, The Orca Family Robinson,
With Whale and I, Easy Whale Rider, Free William, All the Pretty
Whales, Where the Wild Orcas Are, The Whale in the Willows, The Lion
the Witch and the Whale, Willard Whale in the City, An American Whale
in Paris, Alice in Waterworld, The Neverending Whale Story, The Little
Whale Prince, Orca in Wonderland, Return of the Orcas, Curious Whale,
The Little Whale that Could, Harry Otter and the Sorceror's Spout, A
Whale of a Tale, One Hundred and One Whales, Twenty-One Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea) and coffee (Mug of Tea, Twiced Brewed, Charlie
and the Coffee Factory, Jack and the Coffee Bean Stalk, Nancy Brew
Mysteries, Thanks a Latte, The Last Americano, Pinnococchino, Gone
with the Blend). One of my personal favorites.
42 Upper Stadium Plaza/BC Place Johanna Schmidt
BC Place Stadium Still Around
43 GM Place Interior Dean Lauze Brian Burke & Jennifer Mather
Kurtenback Vintage Orca - haven't seen this. Don't go to hockey
games.
44 GM Place Exterior Dean Lauze Brian Burke & Jennifer Mather
Nazzy Orca
45 GM Place Exterior Dean Lauze Brian Burke & Jennifer Mather
Steamer Orca - both stuck in the same place, ground floor of the
stadium as Pacific passes it westbound. More jerseys.
46 Marinaside Crescent Will Rafuse
Metropolitan Fine Printers/Canadian Art Prints Chef Boy Orca -
kinda cute.
47 W12th/Cambie Landon Mackenzie Mayor Larry Campbell
Mayorca - looks kinda like a paramecium caught in a bunch of fishing
line
48 W.Broadway/Oak Teresa Waclawik Simmons Mattress Gallery
The Queen & King of Vancouver
49 Oak/W.Broadway Pat O'Hara Dales Group Serious Business -
could not figure out this one at all
50 W. Broadway/Birch Carolyn Kramer
The Value Group of Companies Rainbow Chaser - vague, almost
abstract
51 W. Broadway/Birch Norm Spence Telus The Pod - a pun
52 W. Broadway/Birch Cindy Lietz Boston Pizza International Inc.
Young and Free - cute and primitive
53 W. Broadway/Hemlock Dean Lauze Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes - caught with their pants down?
54 W. Broadway/Fir Dean Lauze Bell Pixel Orca - a really cute
way to have one of the few orcas that looks like an orca. How did
Dean do so well for Bell and so poorly for Benz?
55 W. Broadway/Maple Rhonda-Lee Laurie W3 International Media
Orca Chums - cute, marine theme, good use of form
56 HR MacMillan Space Centre Angela Tunner Safe Software
Sea To Sky - my brother thinks it looks like fingerpainting: I don't
think it's too bad
57 Canuck Place, 1690 Matthews Ave. Dean Lauze
Canucks For Kids Fund Trev Orca - another jersey
58 Easter Seal House, 3981 Oak St. Duncan Weller
Lions/Lioness Clubs Orca Bus - cute theme for the sponsor
59 UBC Museum of Anthropology Norman Tait & Lucinda Turner
Douglas Reynolds Gallery The Medicine People - could not find
this. Looked thoroughly. Asked staff. Asked UBC info. Don't
believe it exists.
60 Vancouver International Airport Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun & Glen
Wood
Vancouver International Airport Northwest Coast Killer Whale -
drive out to the airport, go to US departures. (You can stop there
for a minute or two most of the time.) Go in the door for Delta.
Look up and slightly to your left. Gorgeous. Definitely top five.
Be a pity if not many people saw this because everyone who passes it
is in a hurry to get to Atlanta.
61 Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Karel Doruyter BC Ferries Spirit -
marine theme, lovely colour, good use of form, even a ferry on the
belly. See also 65: they are basically identical. Better these than
hockey jerseys. Definitely top five.
62 Vancouver Aquarium, Interior Jennifer Ettinger
Gray Line of Vancouver Tourorca - very cute, but I don't know why
he is a raccoon (otter?) instead of an orca
63 Capilano Rd, North Vancouver Wayne Carlick
Capilano Suspension Bridge From Deep Within - two for the price of
one. Lovely colour, terrific idea, good use of both theme and form.
Definitely top five.
64 Edgemont Blvd./Highland Blvd., North Vancouver Janis Blyth
Edgemont Village Merchant Association Norca Shore - ugly is
beautiful? But it is very nice to see someone involved outside of the
downtown core and outside of major corporations.
65 Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal Karel Doruyter BC Ferries
Nimpkish - actually the name on the plaque is "Keel." See also 61.
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