Nurture

Location: Watermark condo plaza (approx. 5455 Inlet Ave)

Title, Date: Nurture, 2009/10

Artist: George Pratt

Medium: granite

The inscription in front of the sculpture reads: “Nurture, the primal instinct toward parental care, the founding element in the perpetuation of all species …”

This sculpture is located in the Watermark condo’s public plaza, overlooking the waterfront near Trail Bay. They were hammered out of a couple of large granite stones taken from the artist’s own property in Wood Bay Heights, Halfmoon Bay. Originally intended to be part of the artist’s own sculpture garden, they caught the eye of the Watermark strata who purchased it during the 2014 Sunshine Coast Art Crawl.

Pratt is a professional sculptor who works in stone; his studio is located in Halfmoon Bay. Born in Ontario in 1939, he studied carving under the sculptor E.B. Cox in Toronto in 1970. Pratt’s works are carved in granite, marble, jade and other exotic and ornamental stones found in Canada. 

Pratt’s work is widely collected in North America by both private individuals and corporations. His giant jade carving, The Emperor’s Sunrise, was a striking focal point at the Canadian Pavilion during the 2008 Olympic Games in China.

Pratt is well-known for his monumental sculptural installations including the Terry Fox Memorial in Port Coquitlam, The Builders in Calgary, the Singing Frog in Burnaby, and the Royal Trust’s Sedna sculpture in Toronto – the making of which was documented in John Paskievich’s film “Sedna – The Making of a Myth” (1992).