The Penticton Public Sculpture Exhibition is a cool deal. A new group of sculptures coming into town every year from across the province, all of them displayed prominently along the city's well-traveled northern waterfront? Yes please.
PentictonNow has written multiple times on the subject. Every spring, we tag along with the City crew and often the artists themselves while photographing the new batch of sculptures. We've pondered the future of the exhibit at length, speculating if it might one day rise to the level of the beloved tourist attraction known as the Castlegar Sculpturewalk.
But there's another side to the story: Vandalism. The Penticton exhibit has seen more than its fair share over the years, and 2023 has been particularly tough.
Within a month of this year's installation, two of the seven newbies had already been impacted.
Vancouver sculptor Ron Simmer's awesome Gigaspider was the first.
Gigaspider's "eyes," in reality two round automotive taillights that illuminate at night, were smashed.
Serge Mozhnevsky's "Wish to Fly" was next. Within a couple weeks of the Gigaspider incident, Wish to Fly was ripped from its base and stolen.
We documented both incidents here.
And now it's David Hunwick's turn. Sometime between mid-summer and last Sunday, Hunwick's "The Kiss," (two fish seemingly kissing at the top of a large ring) was mostly stolen.
We say "mostly" because the big ring at the bottom is still there. At least it was yesterday. But the two gorgeous bronze fish at the top have evaporated.
"I only found out about it Sunday from a friend," the Victoria sculptor told PentictonNow. "What happened is that one of my sculpting students had her sculpture on display in Penticton last year. Then my piece was put in the same place this year.
"So a friend of hers was passing by the spot and contacted my friend and said 'Look what they put in place of the piece.' And it was a picture of the ring.
"So my friend was just arriving at the studio and said she had a photo she wanted to show me. She said it’s my sculpture. And I said, 'It looks like it WAS my sculpture. Where are the fish?"
Not sure what to do, Hunwick turned to social media and specifically to a Penticton community page, asking if anyone knew anything about its theft, or even the timing of the theft.
He soon had a response.
"Someone said they'd walked by in mid-July and there was no fish on it," he said. "And there was another comment that said prior to that they'd noticed the fish had been vandalized, and then had disappeared.
"So I guess the question that raised with me is who's supervising this? And is anyone actually checking in on the sculptures?"
Hunwick is no stranger to Penticton's revolving sculpture scene. In 2020 his "Dreams Can Come True" graced the waterfront. But it wasn't immune either.
"Someone tried to pry the hare off," he said. "It was Kaare Yeske (the now departed program coordinator) who spotted it. So Kaare saw it and put in a weld for me at my cost. He basically saved it from getting stolen."
So, two sculptures and two incidents for Hunwick, who calls Penticton a "wonderful place," thinks the waterfront display area is "fantastic," and, despite the issues, wants to be involved in the program going forward.
But the negatives are piling up.
"The contract basically exempts the City from anything," he said Tuesday evening. "So I knowingly took the risk. I didn’t take out insurance when I should have. Basically insurance just covers the material cost anyway, not the value of the piece.
"But the City's getting some great artwork and there should be more accountability once the sculptures are put in place. It appears there's no surveillance or anyone monitoring it. And the fact that my sculpture was definitely not there in mid-July and potentially before that and no one can tell me about it or even seemed to know about it."
PentictonNow reached out to City of Penticton Manager of Recreation, Arts and Culture Kelsey Johnson, who we discovered is away on business and unable to comment. But Senior Communications Advisor Shane Mills was in town and available.
According to Mills, the City contacted Hunwick today (Wednesday) and "apologized for the reckless vandalism that damaged his work of art and for not immediately communicating with him about the damage."
"In this particular case," continued Mills, "the vandalism was initially reported but through administrative oversight there was a delay in communication with the artist."
The City, added Mills, has offered Hunwick a "number of options" moving forward and will abide by his choice.
"These acts of vandalism are incredibly disappointing," he continued. "The Penticton Public Sculpture Exhibition is an opportunity to showcase exciting talent and provide residents and visitors with an opportunity to see the art close-up.
"The exhibit has been a welcome addition to the waterfront for seven years and, while frustrating when these mindless acts happen, the program will continue to provide a stage for public art."
Mills' sentiments may not be enough for Gigaspider creator Ron Simmer. Now 81 years old and always entertaining, Simmer is responsible for some of the most whimsical outdoor art to grace the city in the past few years (who could forget "What Does the Nose Know?" in 2022?).
But he's now seriously rethinking his future interest in the program.
His perspective is understandable. What Does the Nose Know? was damaged to the tune of $200 before its tenure ended. As for Gigaspider, the broken face was just the start. Later this year, vandals stole the lower portion of one of its legs – even though it was bolted into a base.
Simmer's been unable to travel back to Penticton since with Gigaspider's rebuilt face and nothing's been done locally to mend the missing appendage. So the impressive sculpture remains faceless and partially legless today – a sad commentary.
"Some cities like Castlegar have no problems whatever with vandalism," said Simmer. "The people there respect what we're doing and realize it's important to the community. But I guess in Penticton you don’t have that kind of rapport.
"So given the vandalism, I don’t think I'll bother contributing my art to Penticton in the future. I realize the volunteers are excellent and what a wonderful crew there is to help me set things up. And the people who administrate the program. But I guess they have no control over what other people are doing."
According to Simmer, Kelsey Johnson contacted him "about a month ago" concerning the partially missing leg.
"She was going to try to get a welder to weld it back on, but I never heard back whether she did that," he said.
"And I asked her if anyone local would take on the job of re-attaching the spider face if I sent it there (after rebuilding it). It was made clear to me that I am totally responsible for all theft and damage."
Serge Mozhnesky, fresh off losing Wish to Fly, is more forgiving. It's a commendable point of view given that both the pieces he's displayed here have been targeted.
Several years ago, thieves stole part of his "Embrace," forcing Mozhnesky to create and install a replacement. For Wish to Fly, they swiped virtually the entire sculpture and then had their way with it.
"They did eventually find the pieces," he said, sounding a lot like a coroner. "They found a couple, then they found a couple more. But when I saw them I realized I'd have to completely rebuild it. So I decided to not bring it back.
"It's still lying in pieces because some of the joints were so severely damaged. Somebody was trying hard to rip it apart. It was crazy vandalism."
Instead, Mozhnesky offered to replace Wish to Fly with a sculpture he'd brought to town for the 2022 exhibit, "Pantocrator." The City accepted.
And now he says he's all for coming back in the future.
"Sure I'd show my pieces (in Penticton) again," he said. "The vandalism is part of the deal to participate in public art. It happens everywhere.
"And I don’t look at what I'm doing with the sculpture programs as a business. If I approached it as a business, I wouldn’t do it. And I know how much effort you need to monitor all those sculptures."
According to Mozhnesky, other community programs offer insurance but Penticton pays more.
"I put a $3,000 value to Wish to Fly," he said. "And to insure it would have cost me more than $2,000. I already made a profit on it when I leased it to Peace Arch Park (at the US/Canadian border), the safest place to display sculptures anywhere.
"But Penticton is a resort. People come there to have fun. You either accept it or you don't put your pieces on the street."
However, he added, he's displayed his works across North America and has experienced trouble only in Penticton.
"Maybe when they put out their call for sculptors," he said. "it should be mentioned that there are possibilities of vandalism."
The latest Penticton incidents are by no means isolated. In 2017, it was Paul Reimer's Tamarack Pond (vandalized). In 2018, it was Michael Hermesh's "Hat Box Man" (stolen but returned). In early 2020, Lars Baggenstos' big, beautiful "Restoration and Resilience" was outright stolen. And in March of 2021, it was Denis Kleine's "Dawn," finally removed from its spot at the Penticton Hospital after continued defacement. Last year it was the key from Fred Dobbs' "The Raven's Key."
And then there was Trinita Walker's "Salmon Cycle," which curiously lost a salmon two years ago only to have it retrieved after a mysterious late-night phone call. Cloak and dagger all the way.
And that's only a partial list.
We'll leave the last word to David Hungate, who was clearly pleased the City contacted him today and looks forward to future resolutions.
"If they really want to grow that great sculpture program and really want artists to trust them," he said, "they have to step up to the plate and do something too."
