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Last Love, in limestone

Patrick Sullivan takes sculpture series to the States as one of five artists selected for the 'Chiseled" Stone Sculpture Symposium
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Patrick Sullivan is like a proud papa when it comes to his imposing stone sculptures: he keeps photos of them in a plastic pullout in his wallet, alongside a snapshot of him and his wife, Sharon. And while Sullivan has been a professional sculptor for over 30 years, his artistic career didn't start out with stone.

"Well, actually, I started out as a painter in the early '70s in Vancouver and on a dare from a friend, I took my paintings up to the art school, a junior college, and to my amazement, I was accepted!"

Sullivan soon crossed paths with the school's sculpture instructor, who had studied under the well-known British sculptor, Henry Moore. Sullivan soon found himself thrown into the studio to try his hand at the unwieldy medium. The end result was his first piece: Man And Nature.

"Very few people want to carve stone because it's just too difficult. You know, it's a subtractive process that people just can't get into, but I'm the opposite," he chuckled. "The subtractive process is really what I could do, whereas the manipulation of clay and that just wasn't interesting."

He points out that stone is organic, environmentally friendly and inexpensive.

"Stone is actually one of the most overlooked contemporary art forms of the last 50 years for public art. It's making a bit of a revival," Sullivan said.

"Hopefully I'm part of a new wave!"

Sullivan has called the Sea to Sky corridor home, on and off, for almost 15 years. While many of his pieces are private commissions and gallery projects, the public pieces are an important aspect of his overall artistic portfolio.

"I see public art also as a tool to reach out to people and make them feel better about life, and make them also intellectually think a bit more," Sullivan mused. "But a lot of public art doesn't do that, unfortunately. It's usually all about the artist and not always about trying to teach somebody or reach out and make a statement."

Of course, there's also a certain sense of satisfaction that comes along with the public projects, which are on display for everyone to see.

"...When you're looking at public art, you've really got to consider the people, the public community you're in; that's my philosophy and that's the way I prefer to work, if I can."

The B.C.-born sculptor has created a number of impressive works that are on display throughout the Sea to Sky corridor, including the Last Love piece on the Valley Trail by Lake Placid Road and the four basalt sculptures in front of the Whistler Public Library, Last Love II, III, IV and V.

"The theme was actually inspired by my marriage to my wife Sharon - it's on the plaque there," he said, gesturing with a silver-and-turquoise-ring-adorned finger to the sculptures.

The series also draws upon elements of Sullivan's heritage and culture.

"I see my work as being more Southwest influenced, because I'm part Native American, myself - Cherokee and actually Tlingit, which is the American equivalent of Haida, from the Alaska panhandle," he explained.

"That's what I've done here, too," he said, gesturing at the sculptures standing guard in front of the library. "You see a lot of different kinds of symbolism and blending of cultures, the blending of emotions and the love energy, which I tried to capture."

Recently, Sullivan was one of five artists (and the only Canadian) selected to take part in the "Chiseled" Stone Sculpture Symposium, which was held in the small community of Vandalia, Ohio, as part of the city's 50 th anniversary celebrations. During the two-week symposium the artists transformed the parking lot of the Vandalia Recreation Center into their studios, as massive blocks of Indiana limestone became their canvas.

"The quarry is in Bloomington, Indiana and the Indiana limestone is quite a famous stone," Sullivan said. "The White House in Washington, D.C., the foundation is actually built out of six-tonne blocks of Indiana limestone. Most of the Empire State Building is built out of Indiana limestone, and the foundation for the Pentagon is built out of Indiana limestone."

The project saw Sullivan working from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day for almost two weeks straight, whittling down his six-tonne, seven-foot-tall stone block into Last Love VI. In the process, he removed approximately 10 per cent of the stone using hand tools that are "Not much different than ones Michaelangelo used, except they're carbide-tipped, now." All the while, he took the time to patiently answer questions from masses of inquisitive onlookers who visited the site each day.

"I especially enjoy working with the public, which is kind of unusual for a sculptor. Most artists want to withdraw from people."

A large aspect of the project in Ohio was public interaction, as city officials had to "sell" the event to its somewhat conservative constituents.

"Vandalia had never commissioned any public art... so they kind of killed two birds with one stone," Sullivan explained. "They got five pieces of public art at a reasonable price.

"Sometimes those are the best communities to go into with a public art project like this, because they have no preconceived notions and they're sort of open-minded. I think stone is the best material to do a public art symposium because people just love that action and those chips flying and the dust settling; all that physical activity!"

It sounds like such a simple concept, one that could work quite well here in Whistler.

"With the Olympics, I really think (organizers) missed the boat," Sullivan reflected. "Something like this could have been international with some local flavour; you get an abundance of public art, you even have the material - (local) basalt could be the material - you have work for public places all over, parks, you get public involvement. You have the culture here for it!

"For the price of the (public art project) in the Plaza, you could get 10 or more pieces at a symposium, and still pay the sculptors reasonably well."

Though Sullivan has accumulated an impressive portfolio over the years, he hasn't had much support from Canadian arts agencies like the Canada Council, who have turned his grant applications down more than 20 times without any explanation. Most recently, they denied his request for a small grant to help him get to the event in Ohio.

"I'm a senior artist who has paid his dues, and it was a lousy $1,500 travel grant.

"I hate to say you have to know the right people, but that's what I've been told," he said with a shrug.

Despite his disappointments with Canadian art agencies, it looks like Sullivan's current series will continue to evolve, as he has no last Last Love planned.

"I don't think so! I'm actually working on models VII through X."