While much of the art on view at downtown’s inaugural Victoria at Dusk festival featured cutting-edge visual and digital technology, two pieces of decidedly low-tech work were included in the spotlight — both by Legacy Artist Elza Mayhew. Running at a number of downtown locations from February 13-15, it was exciting to see thousands of people gazing reverentially at a pair of Mayhew’s bronze sculptures, both situated in the Royal BC Museum’s sunken gardens outside the BC Archives.
As hundreds of lights in the grotto pulsed to the rhythms of a DJ’s beats, Mayhew’s sculptures silently glowed from the flickering of dozens of battery-operated candles, giving them an almost sacred feeling. Created specifically for Victoria at Dusk by the Big Candle Collective, alongside the Lamplit Art Society, the installation gorgeously illuminated Mayhew’s three-metre, 489-kilogram “Caryatid” — which was installed in the native plant gardens at the Royal BC Museum in 2016 — alongside her earlier 1967 installation, “Spirit”.
Seeing Mayhew’s towers visually reinterpreted by a new generation of artists beautifully illustrates the role our Legacy Artists continue to play in Victoria’s creative landscape. Much like Jack Wilkinson’s Centennial Square fountain sculpture, the work of our Legacy Artists transcend time and medium itself, while showcasing the rich and vibrant heritage of the city’s arts community. VVALS is proud to highlight the ongoing impact of our Legacy Artists, and to support today’s young artists who may well become fixtures in Victoria’s future artistic landscape