Somba K'e sculpture vandalized
Residents spent hours trying to clean 'United in Celebration' Sunday
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
William Greenland goes to Somba K'e Civic Plaza every Sunday morning to sit and play his flute under United in Celebration - the sculpture designed by late sculptor and jewelry-maker Francois Thibault.
Graffiti covering the statue at Somba K'e Civic Plaza was found Sunday morning and removed by a group of concerned residents. - photo courtesy of William Greenland |
But last Sunday he found the sculpture defaced with graffiti and had to stop playing.
"It's not my artwork, but it's someone's I held in high regard," he said. "You wonder, 'Who did this?'" he said.
Greenland posted the photo to Facebook and a couple residents immediately offered to clean it up.
"Sue Glowach came out," he said. "And Steven Woolfe said, 'I've got a ladder, I'm going to go out to start cleaning it off.'"
It took a couple of hours and several different solutions to remove the black marker that covered the sculpture, said Greenland.
"We tried (paint thinner), WD40 – and the only thing that worked was nail polish (remover)," said Greenland.
Thibault's sculpture was erected at the edge of Frame Lake in 2009. The sculptor died of brain cancer in April 2014.
Thom Jarvis, a longtime friend of the artist who was master of ceremonies at his funeral, said Thibault was the forgiving type.
"He would almost feel bad for somebody who is that foolish, to want and go and do something like that," he said.
"He was very passionate about public art. I don't think he would have went ballistic. It would have bugged him, but it would have bugged him more that somebody had the mindset to do that."
'It was supposed to be painted'
Despite the efforts of the good Samaritans, the statue is still marked and will need to be painted.
The bare metal has actually never been painted, and Jarvis said painting his work was the only thing Thibault wasn't able to get done.
"That was one thing he wanted to do and it never got finished," he said. "It was supposed to be painted."
The city's 2015 budget shows $45,000 dedicated to finish the work.
Mayor Mark Heyck said Tuesday an arrangement has been worked out with the contractor painting the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool to paint the sculpture next.
The city's director of community services Grant White said city staff haven't worked out a timeline for when the sculpture will be painted.
Heyck said it's unfortunate that somebody decided to deface the work, "but it happens from time to time."
He said he's glad residents decided to clean off what they could, and city staff are out assessing the damage, to decide if more graffiti removal has to happen.
"My understanding is that the residents were able to get most of it off," he said.
RCMP Const. Elenore Sturko said defacing the statue amounts to mischief and property damage. If the damages are deemed to cost more than $5,000 the perpetrator could end up in jail for up to 10 years if convicted, she said.
"But that's the maximum you could get," she said.
RCMP have a file open on the incident to investigate the damages, said Sturko.
