Orca in the Inner Harbour are rapidly becoming a not-uncommon sight. But a mother and calf stationed not far away on land draw attention and approval from scores of visitors and residents each summer.
The plant-filled Surfacing sculpture was crafted by artist Sandra Bilawich, funded by the Downtown Victoria Business Association, and installed in 2010, making this its 16th summer at the corner of Government and Humboldt streets.
“It’s a bit of a show getting it put in place, and it always attracts a lot of onlookers,” parks supervisor Mike Creighton told the Victoria News just after the May 27 install. “People are interested. It always gets good vibes when it’s going up.”
With the intersection shut down and crane truck lifting the 12,000-pound sculpture – in four pieces – into place, crews faced only positive comments and a ton of cameras.
“Staff love this. It’s really great to be able to put something out there that is appreciated by so many folks, including tourists and residents,” Creighton said. “The tourism factor is huge, everyone’s lining up to take a picture with it, so that’s pretty neat to also be part of that.”
Greenhouse staff are pretty proud of this particular work. It features 10,000 plants of predominantly five species – Alternanthera dentata (purple knight) on the body, Festuca glauca (festina) for the wave, a combination of Helichrysum thianschanicum (icicles), Dichondra argentea (silver falls), and Santolina chamaecyparissus for the markings, with Nassella tenuissima on the spouts. On a regular maintenance cycle, each year one piece of the sculpture is stripped down completely, reconfigured and plugged back up with plants in the spring.
Each winter in the city’s Beacon Hill Park Nursery, the sculpture is sheared, fertilized, maintained and nurtured until ready to go out and greet guests.
The city tries to get the sculpture in place before the May long weekend, though cool weather prevented that this year.
“It’s a bit of work to get it to where it is, but once it goes out, it takes a little touch-up here and there,” he said. Barring a little too much revelry and enjoyment from the more rowdy element of the public, it doesn’t take much maintenance, just watering and inspection.
“We usually leave it out as long as we can until it starts to look a little bit shabby and the weather gets cool,” Creighton said. The topiary lingered into December last year.
The installation of Surfacing also signifies another imminent iconic summer sight in Victoria – about 1,200 hanging baskets are set to dot the downtown core with crews out installing from June 10 to 12.
