Coal Harbour Leisure Stroll

1.    Canada Place & Convention Centre Area

Canada Place

With its five tall ‘Teflon’ fabric sails, Canada Place resembles a giant sailing ship. During the summer months, this is the spot to see cruise ships departing for Alaska.  Follow the promenade north for a panoramic view of Burrard Inlet and the North Shore.  On the west side of the deck, stands “Salute to the Lions of Vancouver” by Gathie Falk. Two matching steel-cut lions jump through lighted hoops held between two vertical beams. The artist's original scheme, comprising eight dogs leaping through rings of fire ("I wanted it to be a real salute") was modified considerably." (Elizabeth Godley, 671, The Greater Vancouver Book).

Continue westbound on Canada Place Way for a street block (0.1 Km)

Vancouver Convention Centre West Wing – the largest building in Vancouver (approx 1 million sq. ft.) - is the new expansion of the Vancouver Convention Centre, designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects.  A six acre ‘living roof’ which features over 400,000 indigenous plants and 4 beehives is the largest ‘green’ roof in Canada.  Glimpses of the living roof appear at various points as one explores around the perimeter of the site.

As you walk the seawall that wraps around the Convention Centre, at its northeast corner (at the foot of Burrard Street) is "The Drop".

The Drop (private development)
Inges Idee (Berlin- based group of 4 artists)

This sculpture resembles a gigantic and elegant droplet. It seems as if the plaza has been hit by a huge raindrop. The sculpture comments on the diagonal shape of the building and stands like a figurehead on a sailing ship. (Vancouver Sun, Kevin Griffin)

At the northwest corner next to the Convention Centre is an unusual public art piece that from a distance looks like a giant Lego toy. You can take a cool picture of its reflection in the window. In you come back in the evening, see it lit.

Digital Orca
Douglas Coupland (Vancouver, Canada)

From the on-site plaque: The “Digital Orca” sculpture breaks down a three-dimensional Orca whale into cubic pixels - making a familiar symbol of the West Coast become something unexpected and new. This use of natural imagery modified by technology bridges the past to the future. It speaks to the people and activities that created Vancouver's thriving harbour culture, while addressing the massive changes reshaping the BC economy. The sculpture's metal construction and lighting components evoke the daily moods of the harbour and the diversity of those who work there.

2010 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Cauldron
The cauldron, which the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) designed and fabricated, is located on the west side of the Jack Poole Plaza at 1055 Canada Place.  The cauldron was lit on February 12, 2010 by Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and is a lasting reminder of the 2010 Winter Games.

Continue your walk along the scenic waterfront heading west and you will be at the east entrance of Harbor Green Park (between the foot of Thurlow Street and Bute Street).

2.    Harbor Green Park

As of July, 2011 this installation that has been the favourite among many students who participate in the BIG IDEAS dialogue was removed.
Pillow (Vancouver Biennale)
Liu Jianhua (China) Painted fiberglass

The influence of his training in ceramics is shown in the painted fiberglass installation “Pillows” by Chinese artist Liu Jianhua.  Fiberglass allows Jianhua to mimic the fine details of cloth, the fold of the fabric and stitches on the seams. The pillow, a western form, is not historically a Chinese domestic object. The clean white porcelain-like surfaces appear sanitized and impersonal, yet give the visual illusion of a pillow made of a soft welcoming material, one that invites you to rest your head or body, but in fact the pillows are hard and rigid.

 The Mill Marine Bistro has a large outdoor patio and serves simple comfort food.  Perfect spot for a drink and a pause to replenish your energy!  In front of the restaurant is a delightful children’s water park which forms the focus of the Harbour Green Park.

Take a small detour towards the back of Mill Bistro and up the steps towards West Cordova Street.  Place next to Harbor Green I building (at the intersection of West Cordova Street and Bute Street) is "Skin of Time".

As the Vancouver Biennale de-installs its 2009-2011 exhibition, the steel mesh Skin of Time  by Choi Tae Hoon (Korea) has been removed.

Trees represent many things in Korean culture, and occur in myths and legends. There is the Shinsu (sacred tree), the tree of life, the tree of death and revival, the tree of wisdom, the tree of sacrifice, and the tree of history and tradition. A famous Korean holiday is Tree Planting Day, where Korean’s traditionally plant trees each April in support of a good planting environment. The sculpture “Skin of Time” is a tree that represents aspects of the life of the artist Choi Tae Hoon. Choi Tae Hoon has attached and embedded messages and important mementoes relating personally to his life experiences in the skin or bark of the tree. These personal marks and symbols can only be seen when they light up and shine like stars in the night sky.  Choi Tae Hoon has proven to be one of Korea’s most progressive sculptors. Tae Hoon makes his Canadian debut with the installation of this sculptural work.
Walk back to Harbour Green Park as there are still more great public art works in the Park to check out.

King and Queen (Vancouver Biennale)
Sorel Etrog(Canada) Painted steel

In “King and Queen” the Romanian-born Canadian artist Sorel Etrog makes manifest the complex relationship between man and machinery and the conflict between individual agency in craft and industrialized mass manufacturing in the modern world. The steel plating, sheet metal, bolts, rivets and hinges become the dominating visual elements in this work, which was constructed at DeMonte Fabrication Inc., a machine factory producing parts for the construction and automotive industries. The laps of the two figures beckon visitors and in spite of its formal, rigid and machine-like quality King and Queen have been a piece for children to climb and sit on.  Sorel Etrog’s impressive and multi-faceted career has spanned more than 40 years making him one of the most important Canadian sculptors of international statue alive today.

Shipwreck (City of Vancouver)
Eric Neigbour (Canada), Cedar

Four twisting chunks of cedar lie end to end resembling a fallen column. This work was completed with the help of more than 1400 visitors/volunteers many of whom happened on the project and picked up a mallet and chisel and started to carve. Some dedicated enthusiasts stayed every day for more than two months. (Source: Public Art Registry, City of Vancouver)

Light Shed (City of Vancouver)
Liz Magor (Canada) Aluminum

The artwork is near the Coal Harbour Community Centre on the seawall promontory and faces Stanley Park. It is influenced by the form of old boat sheds that used to line the shoreline. The
artist cast a ½ scale model in aluminum and coated it with luminescent paint. It is perched on top of cast pilings. At night a soft glow emanates from inside. (Source: Public Art Registry, City of Vancouver)    

When you walk out of Harbor Green Park, you will pass by the Coal Harbor Community Centre to continue your walk along the Coal Harbor Quay.  

3.    Coal Harbor Quay

Sliding Edge
Nancy Chew(Canada) Bronze figure, rundle stone waterfall, bench & pavers

"Along the seawall is a rough yet elegant waterfall of black rundle stone: the stacked, linear, irregular stone edges are abstractions of geological layers… Standing on top of the waterfall is an iconic, enigmatic human figure - man in the landscape, poised between the earth and the sky." The text is from a poem by Earle Birney, November Walk Near False Creek Mouth.
“Sliding Edge" alludes to the always moving edge of the waterfront, the sea sliding in and out on the tides, the waves lapping, the shifting of the earth's edge, the changes over time. This work reflects the site's natural and industrial context, to ideas of nature and culture." (Source: Public Art Registry, City of Vancouver)

On your right is the Coal Harbor Marina and on your left on the ground at the corner of Nicola and Coal Harbor Quay is "Make West".
 
Make West (private development)
Bill Pechet(Canada) Bronze, slate, granite & plants

The piece is subtly placed along the foundation of the building on the waterfront walkway between Nicola and Cardero Streets. It is made of stones, plaques, and objects cast in bronze that refer to the history of the area and act as a puzzle. Recently, the private strata council of Bauhinia/Avila has posted privacy signs in the 3 alcoves - however, the artwork is visible from the sidewalk.
"Make West is an attempt to represent the history of Coal Harbor and, by extension, Vancouver and Western Canada. It does so in the form of a series of shards, or extractions which constitute a game." -the artist  (Source: Public Art Registry, City of Vancouver)

Cardero Restaurant is a full service restaurant that sits out on a pier in the Coal Harbor marina.  On a sunny day, get a table on the deck and enjoy the spectacular harbor and mountain views in a lively, urban setting.

A short walk along Coal Harbor Quay westbound will take you to Cardero Park, at the bottom of Cardero Street.

4.    Cardero Park

Meeting (Vancouver Biennale)
Wang Shugang (China) Painted bronze

“Meeting” is made up of eight identical life-sized crouching figures in painted bronze by the Chinese artist Wang Shugang. The figures in Asian dress are spare and appear still and fixed. They are contemplative but suggest a latent energy; the potential to stand-up or leap. They are striking in their bright “Chinese red”.  Historically red was a color representing happiness, but it was also the color of terror during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. “The Chinese flag, the walls of the temple, which coats the Buddhist monks, but also the clothes of a bride in red… said Wang Shugang. “But it is rather the Chinese, glowing red of communism, which I use.”  The grouping was first exhibited during the G-8 summit meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany in 2007 where world leaders held a “meeting”. As Shugang has pointed out, “Would there be important results from their meeting? Wasn’t it really just a few people carrying on some formality while wining and dining away? “

Walk eastbound towards the water (Coal Habour). Placed on the grass facing the water is "Ceramic Forms".

In September, 2011 this installation has been shipped to New York City for auction sales.
Ceramic Forms (Vancouver Biennale)
Yee Soo Kyung (Korea), Ceramic

This artwork of Soo Kyung transforms traditional Korean objects made by master Korean ceramicists and concepts into new, “recycled” contemporary forms. The familiar ceramic designs and surfaces are recognized internationally as a central part Korean cultural identity.  How to be modern and yet retain an appreciation for traditional forms and values is addressed in both the process and visual presence of the work, which also suggests nostalgia for traditional forms and design.

Continue your walk in the northwest direction along Bayshore Drive and the seawall towards the entrance into Stanley Park.  Devonian Harbour Park is situated on West Georgia Street at Denman Street.

5.    Devonian Harbour Park

Solo (City of Vancouver)
Natalie McHaffie (Canada), Stainless steel, cedar

An abstract sculpture of stainless steel with carved cedar planks that fan out in a spiral. ”McHaffie says she means to show movement, but not flight. ’My perception of the world is that very little of it is stable,' she says." - Vancouver Sun, July 19, 1986.  The sculpture was installed as one of ten pieces in the City Shapes sculpture symposium in the City's centennial year.

Aerodynamic Forms in Space (City of Vancouver)
Rodney Graham (Canada), Stainless steel

Vancouver artist Rodney Graham is a major figure on the Canadian and international art scene. Well-known for his conceptual and often humorous sculptures, his piece for the Georgia Street entrance to Stanley Park plays with the theme of flight – a nod to the location’s nearby seaplanes as well as the toy model planes seen with children and adults on the park’s grounds. “The work takes its title from a series of photographs I shot in Vancouver in 1977…which documented a series of ‘incorrectly’ assembled toy glider kits…I put the models together not with a view to having them fly correctly, but with an eye to their aesthetic value as purely abstract sculptural forms… Part of the challenge inherent in making these works was the very limited instrumental set from which I had to draw. When I was asked to create a sculptural proposal for the entrance to Stanley Park, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to return to this work…and try to realize a large-scale version of one of these sculptures: to use the same very limited instrumental set with which anyone who has put together a toy glider would be familiar. The theme of flight seemed appropriate given the location too, for seaplanes are common sights at the entrance to the park. And the park, of course, is a place where children and adults may very well play with gliders... Plus it would be something that would be interesting when glimpsed only briefly by passengers in vehicles moving at relatively high speed along West Georgia. The title of the work is meant to evoke, in a slightly humorous way…that of a classical modernist public monument of a bygone period, elements of which the sculpture plays with.”- Rodney Graham, 2009 (Source: City of Vancouver)

Extension
Option 1:  Walk, Jog, Bike, Rollerblade the Stanley Park Seawall
Stanley Park is truly a walker's and cyclist’s paradise right in the heart of the city. It's one of the largest urban parks in North America, with 400 hectares (1000 acres) of woodlands, gardens, flowers, trails, lakes, beaches and wildlife.

Circumnavigate the park via the seawall (a brisk 2-hour walk) or take the road less traveled around Lost Lagoon or Beaver Lake to view the resident geese, swans and raccoons. Stanley Park is home to the Vancouver Aquarium as well as a children's farmyard, tennis courts, pitch and putt golf course which makes it a great family outing. (Source: Tourism Vancouver Walkabouts)
You can bike or rollerblade around the seawall - there are a number of rental shops at the corner of Denman and West Georgia Street.

Option 2:  Vancouver Biennale English Bay Beaches
Head south on Denman Street through the West End towards English Bay. It is a 15 minute walk (~ 1 km or 0.6 mile). 

Follow the Vancouver Biennale English Bay Beaches tour guide to continue exploring the public art and natural beaches of Vancouver.  This self-guided walking tour takes you through the most popular sunbathing, swimming, and sunset-watching beach in the downtown Vancouver area.  The tour starts from Beach Avenue on English Bay at the edge of Stanley Park and takes you to Kitsilano Beach on the south shore of the bay.  While you marvel at the beauty of nature, you will get to enjoy the public artwork from the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Biennale (2009-2011) along this beachfront walk.

Author:        Katherine Tong
Editor:         Michael and Ingunn Kemble

The information and opinions in this document represents solely the views of the author and are not intended as a recommendation to purchase any products or use of any services.