Regeneration

Location: Seaside Centre/Spirit Square on Rosina Giles Way

Title, Date: Regeneration, 2015

Artist: Gordon Halloran

Medium: Burnt Cedar Trees, Granite, Concrete, Steel, Cedar Seedling

In the summer of 2015, the Sunshine Coast faced unprecedented levels of drought and battled a 423-hectare wildfire. Dozens of firefighters and tree fallers were called in to assist with putting an end to the ‘Old Sechelt Mine’ wildfire. The fire had an immediate and devastating impact on the local community, and on July 5, 2015 claimed the life of local tree faller John Phare. 

After the smoke cleared and the evacuation order was lifted, artist Gordon Halloran was inspired to begin work on a series of sculptures that explore the human impact on our environment, and on nature’s ability to recover and regenerate after disaster. Regeneration is the first in this series.

Regeneration is made from two cedar trees that were burned in the ‘Old Sechelt Mine’ wildfire. In order to create this artwork, Halloran collaborated with the Sunshine Coast Community Forest and local forestry workers. 

Inside the burned trees is a live cedar sapling. Growing for a period of one year inside the protection of the burned tree, the artwork functions as a nurse log. Each year a new seedling is added to the artwork, and the previous year’s sapling is re-planted in the Hidden Grove area of the Sunshine Coast Community Forest.

Roberts Creek-based artist Gordon Halloran began his artistic career in Ontario in 1979 as an award-winning Canadian illustrator. Halloran became known to an international audience as the creator of “Paintings Below Zero”, monumental public art installations involving painted sheets of ice. Halloran’s ice installations were displayed at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy; in 2007 at Toronto City Hall; and during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.