After sitting for 82 years on the Centre Street Bridge, enduring decades of vibrations and soiling, the Centre Street Bridge Lions were in poor condition. No longer strong enough to withstand the elements, they were removed from the bridge in 1999 while the bridge was being renovated, and replaced with four replicas.

In early 2016, plans began to solidify to display one of the lions in Rotary Park. The chosen site was well suited for an original lion, as it would sit perched on the hillside, looking down on the Centre Street Bridge and keeping watch over its newer replica lions. The northeast lion was determined to be in better shape than the others, however, it still required considerable conservation in order to display it safely outdoors. 

Rather than fully restoring the lion, the goal of this work was to conserve the lion in a state of “arrested decay.” The lion was made stable for outdoor display while still preserving the traces of its age and history. Conservation work included extensive repairs, structural stabilization with stainless steel pins, chemical consolidation of the concrete, and the application of a protective, breathable coating system.

After the conservation work was all complete, the lion was installed on a new base at Rotary Park in the fall of 2018. An anti-graffiti coating was applied to help facilitate any future graffiti removal work. The lion in its new home is now a favourite gathering place and a popular spot for photos. However, despite all of the work that has been done to make the lion stable, it remains old, fragile, and hollow, so it is important that you do not climb on him.

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In fall 2006, the Ed Drahanchuk’s Early Foothills Morning stoneware mural was successfully moved from its original location at 209 -16th Ave. N.E. to North Mount Pleasant Arts Centre. This complex undertaking was necessary because the mural was embedded into a building that was slated for demolition as part of the 16th Avenue North Urban Corridor Project.

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A ceramic artwork by Elizabeth Menzies was selected to be displayed at the City Manager’s office. The condition of the artwork was reviewed by our conservator, Sophia Zweifel, before sending the artwork out for the exhibition. Sophia discovered that the glaze suffered from a common problem called ‘crazing’, where tiny cracks develop all over the glaze during firing. Sometimes, a glaze with ‘crazing’ can be very stable. In this case, however, the glaze was fragile and had detached on the back of the piece due to a previous inappropriate mounting system.

Matching the high gloss of a glaze with paint can be very challenging. The goal of a conservation treatment isn’t to make the repairs fully invisible. It is important that upon close inspection you should be able to see the difference between a conservator’s work and the original artwork.  

Katie Ohe’s sculpture Day and Night (Cracked Pot Foundations) was relocate to Princes Island in the 1970s, where it was converted into a fountain and has remained a tranquil focal point in the park for years.

After several decades in the park exposed to the harsh Calgary climate, by 2019 the sculpture was in need of repair. Numerous cracks had developed throughout the terrazzo, and some larger losses had formed. The surface of the sculpture was also covered with layers of built up soiling and salts. It was clear that the sculpture required some work to stabilize it and protect it from further damage.

One of Canada’s most senior conservators was brought in to lead the treatment, assisted by the Public Art Program’s Contract Conservator. The work involved detailed cleaning to remove years of built up soiling and salt deposits using conservation grade cleaning solutions that are safe on the highly porous aged terrazzo. Several structural crack repairs were done with conservation adhesives strengthened with reinforcing fibres as well as bulking agents to mimic the colour and texture of the terrazzo. Larger fills were cast in place and a mixture of marble aggregates were inserted to match that of the surrounding surface. Finally, a protective wax coating was applied to the surface of the sculpture to help prevent water from penetrating deep into the pores of the terrazzo, protecting it from freeze-thaw damage.

Kathryn Dobbin created Comet, a large outdoor kinetic sculpture, as part of her Art Commissions class during her final year as a student at Alberta University of the Arts in 1983 (then the Alberta College of Art). With the help of a grant from Shell Oil, the sculpture was installed on the SW corner of 10^th Street and Memorial Drive. Later the sculpture was moved to its current home on the Bow River Pathway behind the Pumphouse Theatre.

The sculpture sat for many years without much maintenance or attention. Its protective coating wore away and the sculpture began to rust. As the Public Art Program began to take form in the early 2000s, the sculpture was accessioned into the Public Art Collection. Once the necessary funds and resources were established, work began in 2019 to restore the sculpture.

Due to the level of repairs required, it was most appropriate for the artist herself to lead the restoration work. Using studio space generously offered by her former teacher, Katie Ohe, the artist replaced fully corroded components with new steel, repaired and reinforced all of the welds, and adapted the connection to the sculpture’s top sphere so that it could once again rotate gently in the wind. A new paint system was also applied; the artist worked with the paint company to develop a custom galactic blue-black colour reminiscent of the sculpture’s original blue steel appearance.

The sculpture was reinstalled on the Bow River pathway in September, 2020.