Sealion & Seahorse

Artwork Info

Location: 5714 Medusa St. (Sunshine Coast Arts Centre)
Date, Year: Sealion & Seahorse, 1981
Artist: Dudley Carter
Medium: Red cedar


Background and Description

The cedar sculpture to the right of the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre entrance was carved by Dudley Carter, and three of the benches in the garden were carved by his grandson, Michael Vaughn. Typical of many sculptures by Carter, this piece was carved entirely from one redwood cedar log.

The Sunshine Coast Arts Centre is a unique log building conceived and designed by volunteer Clarke Stebner. The fundraising and construction of the building, with its subsequent additions, was completed by volunteers who were committed to a goal of creating a focal point for the Sunshine Coast arts community.

Artist Bio

Dudley C. Carter (1891–1992) was a Canadian-born artist whose highly prolific career as a monumental woodcarver and sculptor spanned more than 60 years. He was a timber cruiser and forest engineer most of his life, gathering information on volume, species composition grade and value of trees in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

 Dudley Carter bought property in Gibsons in 1927 and began his far-reaching career in art in 1930 when the depression interrupted his job as a timber cruiser. The woodsman/artist first excited the art world in 1932 when the new Seattle Art Museum purchased his 11-foot axe-hewn cedar sculpture, 'Rivalry of the Winds' (now on display at the Redmond Library).

Carter was a participant in the 'Art in Action' program during the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. During that time he became a friend of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, who depicted Carter three separate times in his mural “Unión de la Expresión Artistica del Norte y Sur de este Continente” (Marriage of the Artistic Expression of the North and of the South on this Continent).

Extract of
Public Art and Murals in Sechelt

Public Art and Murals in Sechelt image circuit

Presented by : District of Sechelt

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