Sculpture Saint John received a recognition ‘hat trick’ in 2022. The organization scored three awards for its decade of making a mark in the Southern New Brunswick arts scene.
It was recognized by the Sheila Hugh MacKay Foundation with the Arts Advocacy Award in September, the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce with the Community Impact Award in October, and most recently by Hospitality Saint John with the Legacy Award in November.
“Part of this legacy is the fact that we’ve been able to create 38 pieces of monumental public art throughout Southern New Brunswick,” says Diana Alexander, the executive director of Sculpture Saint John.
The organization’s mission was to hold five international symposiums that attract sculptors from around the world to the open-air studio at the Saint John waterfront. There, the public could watch slabs of New Brunswick granite get transformed into beautiful pieces of art.
Over 600 tonnes of local granite was used, with some pieces weighing as much as 10 tonnes. Each piece rests on a base of concrete and rebar to ensure the investment of time, energy and capital, lasts as long as possible.
Started in 2012 and set back slightly by Covid, Sculpture Saint John fulfilled its mission this year when it held its fifth symposium.
“These are pieces of public art that are permanently installed in communities from St. Stephen to Fredericton to Moncton. Their legacy will last for generations,” Alexander says. “These are permanent pieces of public art and for many of the communities, like Cambridge Narrows, these are their first pieces of public art.”
Inspired by similar symposia in Maine, Sculpture Saint John joined with the neighboring state to create an “International Sculpture Trail” comprised of 34 pieces stateside and 38 here in New Brunswick.
“We have thousands of cruise passengers who come to Saint John and many of them are from New England,” Alexander says. She adds that many of them express interest in coming back to see the finished products they watched being created. That could translate into increased economic opportunity for the stops along the trail.
“It takes five days to do the trail properly, and that’s five days that they stay in the communities and eat and shop and do all the things that you do when you’re a tourist. It’s kind of like a bingo card. Once you start seeing them, you’ll want to see them all.”
Many of the artists who hail from around the world had never been to New Brunswick. The symposiums opened their eyes to the potential of the province, allowed them to connect with local communities, and to inspire emerging Atlantic Canadian talent.
After narrowing the applicants down from a field of nearly 200 to only eight, Sculpture Saint John facilitates the relationship between the communities who will be receiving the art and the artist who will create it. Allowing the communities to pick from their top three choices of artist and establishing a relationship with information about their community and where the sculpture will be placed, months before the artist even arrives.
“One of the first things the artists do is go out to the community and they get to look at where it’s located, get a feel for it, talk to the people that are there. It’s a really hands-on experience for the artists and for the community,” Alexander says.
With more than 150,000 visits to the studio over its 10-year run, the work of the organization has become an important part of Saint John tourism, drawing in audiences from across the province.
“People would come back several times because they would want to see what the blocks of stone look like right from the beginning, and watch as the artist created the pieces,” she says. “For the communities, it’s important to watch and [know] that the pieces are being created for them.”
The internship program, which wrapped up in 2022, saw Atlantic Canadian arts students work alongside their established international counterparts, sometimes even using a new medium.
Matt Cripps, ceramics coordinator at the AX: Arts & Culture Centre of Sussex, was an intern during the 2018 program and says the experience influenced his work. The scope, long-term projects with a new medium, and the scale, with pieces measured in feet rather than inches, were all new and exciting experiences.
“I think I ran through three grinders,” he says of working with granite. “That was just par for the course. You just run through tools because you’re working them so hard. But we liked the permanence of granite. It’s going to last forever.”
“I remember every day we’d go to the site and the pieces of stone would look the same as they did the day before,” he recalls.
“But then slowly, over six weeks, we started to see it form. It helped me because it made me understand what it’s like to take on a big project like that. And how slowly you’re moving to that end goal.”
“After I finished my internship later that year, I ended up making a series of vases out of ceramics. One was eight foot tall, one was six foot tall, and one was four feet tall.”
“I directly attributed that to Sculpture Saint John because I know what it’s like to do a long-term project and to see it through.”
Cripps’ work, inspired by his internship, led to several awards, including the BMO 1st ART! Award that saw his art featured in a University of Toronto exhibition.
Despite Sculpture Saint John’s lasting legacy, all good things must come to an end.
“I think at this point, we’re done. Here in Saint John anyway,” Alexander says. She adds that maybe the organization could reinvent itself elsewhere in the province to create lasting pieces of art throughout New Brunswick. “This is what we committed to do originally, the five international symposiums and we’re done now.”
As for the art, it will be here for a long time.
“I think it’s important to get out and see them, get out and touch them and feel them, and really take advantage of this wonderful legacy that’s been created for them.”
Alex Graham is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
