They say salmon always return home, and Sooke sculptor Trinita Waller couldn’t be happier they do.
Back on Aug. 1, Waller's sculpture "Salmon Cycle" was perched magnificently on the Okanagan Lake waterfront as part of the 2020 Penticton Public Sculpture Exhibit. It had been there since the spring.
Intended to portray the cyclical nature of the kokanee salmon's lifespan, the predominantly bronze piece featured a trio of kokanee surrounding a fabricated unicycle with a wheel that itself was rimmed with juvenile salmon. Waller had spent four months and by her estimate $11,000 on its creation.
But sometime in the next few days, everything changed. One of the two bronze kokanee suspended from the unicycle's pedals had been detached and stolen.
"On Aug. 6," said Waller, "I got an email from my neighbour's sister who lives in Penticton. She said she wasn't sure when it happened, but that one of the fish was missing."
Waller, shocked by the news and without insurance on the piece, immediately filed a report with the RCMP and contacted exhibit administrators. The very next day, program coordinator Kaare Yeske had removed the sculpture entirely to prevent further potential vandalism.
The sad situation remained unchanged until last week, when Waller received a mysterious evening phone call.
"Last Friday night I got a phone call from a guy in Penticton who said 'I think I have your missing fish,'" said Waller yesterday. "So I asked where he found it. And he said 'It's in a hotel room. I hate this kind of thing. So I have your fish.'
"He sounded to me like a good Samaritan…but I don't know."
Waller asked the caller to give her the night to figure out what to do. And the next morning, she called him back.
"He asked me if I wanted him to take it to the police. But I said they'd be happy to come and get it."
Waller called the Penticton RCMP, and Constable Liz Vant Erve picked up the salmon over the weekend.
"She sent me an email Saturday night," said Waller. "She said she had it, and that it was in great shape. I'm still stunned. It's fantastic news."
Now, with her salmon at the Penticton RCMP detachment and the bulk of the sculpture at Yeske's Kelowna shop, a relieved Waller is weighing her options. Will Salmon Cycle reappear on the waterfront? Or is it smarter to retire it from active duty for the season?
Waller's leaning toward the former.
"My intention is to repair it and have it reinstalled for the remainder of the lease time," she said. "I do have some trepidation because this was the second piece that was stolen or vandalized in the last year. But I'd ideally like to have it back out there for the public to enjoy."
But her immediate priority is to reconnect salmon to wheel. And she says that's a rather involved process.
"It's not a five minute job. It has to welded and re-sandblasted. It's quite a big deal actually. And I have to bring is back here to Sooke to do it."
For his part, Yeske says he loves the sculpture but adds that it may have "vulnerability aspects" and fully understands whatever Waller opts to do.
"I had it at the Castlegar Sculpture Walk before this," said Waller, "where it won an artistic achievement award. It was there for a year without vandalism, so I hope that if goes back on display in Penticton, it'll be just as safe."
