Salmon Run 2020's sculptures preparing to be installed uptown (Image: Elizabeth MacLeod)
Discover Saint John’s popular “Salmon Run” public art installation returned uptown Wednesday morning.
“We started the Salmon Run in 2017 as a partnership with the province of New Brunswick to celebrate Canada’s 150, and the feedback from that event was extraordinary,” said Victoria Clarke, Executive Director of Discover Saint John.
“I hope that having a Salmon Run out now encourages people to get out and stretch their legs around the city and explore again and rediscover their city,” Clarke said. Businesses throughout the city will have maps of the 2020 salmon locations, which can also be found on Discover Saint John’s website.
“A walk around the city may inspire you to grab a meal or to pop into a restaurant or pop into a shop; there’s lots of curbside and contactless options for people that’s their comfort level, and then there’s lots of places that are open,” she said.
Local artists Kelley Joyce-Floyd, (“Paisley Pisces”) and Fabiola Martinez Rodriguez, (“Memories”) have returned to paint new sculptures for 2020, their third sculptures for the art installation overall. New Brunswick artist John Morgan crafted the casts of the Atlantic salmon.
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- “Wonderland Down Under” by Holly McKay at Rogue Coffee (Image: Elizabeth MacLeod)
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- “Discovery” by Matt Shields at Pristine (Image: Elizabeth MacLeod)
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- Discover Saint John’s Victoria Clarke and the salmon of Salmon Run (Image: submitted)
“Kelly’s (sculpture) is “Paisley Pisces” and it’s just a beautiful play on the paisley style with all these fish and Fabiola’s (sculpture) is actually memories, stylized versions of images that her husband sent her to move her from the West Coast to Saint John,” Clarke said. “It’s a love story, but it’s also a story about being in love with the city and you don’t hear those every day.”
Artists who have participated in the Salmon Run over the years include:
- Amy Ash from Hampton, NB (2019)
- Corinne Monique Long from Saint John, NB (2019)
- Deanna Musgrave from Saint John, NB (2017, 2019)
- Fabiola Martinez Rodriguez from Quispamsis, NB (2018, 2019, 2020)
- Geordan Moore from Saint John, NB (2017, 2019)
- Holly McKay from Grand-Bay Westfield, NB (2017, 2018, 2019)
- Jack Hudson from Rexton, NB (2017, 2018, 2019)
- Jared Betts from Moncton, NB (2018)
- Jean Hudson from Rexton, NB (2017, 2018, 2019)
- Kelley Joyce-Floyd from Quispamsis, NB (2018, 2019, 2020)
- Lisa Robinson from Fredericton, NB (2018)
- Lisa Ann Schichilone from Quispamsis, NB (2017, 2018)
- Matt Shields from Saint John, NB (2019)
- Peggy Woolsey from Quispamsis, NB (2017,2018)
- Steve Chanyi from Quispamsis, NB (2019)
- Tammy Capstick from Bloomfield, NB (2018, 2019)
Clarke adds public art is one of the things that draws people to a city, with Saint John being fortunate to attract the investment that allowed the city to do the Salmon Run and have artists wanting to engage in the project.
“This year was an extraordinary year, but we were just so absolutely thrilled that our artists were able to pull through for us and produce the two that we did; I think they’re incredible additions to the collection,” she said.
