LOCATION: 5714 Medusa St. (Sunshine Coast Arts Centre)
SCULPTURE: Sealion & Seahorse, 1981
ARTIST: Dudley Carter
MEDIUM: Red cedar
This red cedar sculpture has welcomed visitors to the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre for over 30 years. The Sunshine Coast Arts Council officially acquired the work in 1984 thanks to the fundraising efforts of local volunteers.
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.
Dudley Carter was a wood sculptor who made large-scale works using a double bladed woodsman's axe. He was born to a pioneer family in BC and eventually moved to Alert Bay where he was inspired by local Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) carvers. 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).
