The sculpture featuring the figure of a woman rising from the Salish Sea, that presided on Oak Bay Avenue last year, will permanently overlook the Salish Sea.
Oak Bay council has approved installation of the former Arts Alive sculpture, the Winds of Time, in the parking area of King George Terrace lookout.
The Linda Lindsay sculpture was purchased by an anonymous donor with a goal of installing it on King George Terrace, said Mayor Kevin Murdoch.
“We are grateful to the donor,” Murdoch said. “It will be installed when staff have the capacity to do so. We had no issues with the siting.”
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The donor funded $18,000 for the sculpture and an additional $3,000 for the city to install it.
Last year council tussled in its effort to approve the Sea Lore sculpture when an anonymous donor wanted to commission and install a marine-inspired sculpture along the Oak Bay beach between Haynes and Queens’ Park. It was ultimately referred to a public hearing but never made it after the donor withdrew the offer.
At the time, Coun. Eric Zhelka said while it’s an honour to have a $40,000 donation for municipal art, council is not an art panel and such decisions should not be left to them. There was also a backlash from some who wished not to have a tidal sculpture.
“It’s true, it’s a wonderful problem to have,” Murdoch said. “That we have so much art, we have to think about what our limit is and our capacity, but there was no disagreement on this piece.”
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Winds of Time is an existing Oak Bay Arts Alive sculpture and therefore had already been selected by the judging committee.
As Lindsay describes it, the Winds of Time is a woman “rising from the Salish Sea who personifies the beautiful spirit of this place with its unstoppable elements of wind and time. With her knowing smile she seems to say that she has seen it all, and knows what is to come.”
It’s the second Arts Alive sculpture of Lindsay’s to be purchased and installed in Oak Bay in consecutive years. Her 2018 piece, M’akhotso, Mother of Peace, was purchased by the community and installed outside the Monterey Recreation Centre in honour of the late Nils Jensen, a former mayor who loved the statue.
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