Eleven sculptures have recently been donated to the Bergen Rocks collection, broadening the range of art at the park and adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the collections' value.
An anonymous male art collector from Calgary donated six monumental sculptures and five garden sculptures to the park, since the annual Bergen Rocks symposium was cancelled this year, according to Morton Burke, owner of the collection and founder of Bergen Rock Sculpture Symposium.
“With having to cancel the event and the sculpture park not growing again this year, he donated six monumental sculptures and five garden sculptures to the park,” said Burke. “It's a huge contribution and a real strong show of support for the arts.”
This year's Bergen Rocks event was cancelled because of the Canadian foreign workers strike. Five artists that were invited to the event were denied a visa, which would have allowed them to travel to Canada and participate, he explained.
Bergen Rocks began in 2008 and each year the public is invited to watch five artists from around the world create stone sculptures over the period of a month.
Each piece at the park is worth anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000, according to Burke, but he is unable to put a price value on the new pieces.
He said the Calgary man has supported the event from the get go.
The monumental sculptures include a laughing Buddha, a mermaid and a marble fountain with 12 Chinese zodiac animals carved within.
“It looks like these animals are all in the jungle or something, but when you look at it closely, you can find all of the different animals of the Chinese zodiac in there. It's really incredible,” said Burke.
There is also a sculpture of Pinocchio, called “I am a liar”, by a Korean artist. According to Burke, it resembles being torn between honesty and dishonesty when it comes to being successful.
Another sculpture, called “Shot me down” is by an Italian artist and is a drink container with a stone on top of it, causing the container to crumple. It is the first Italian sculpture to be part of the park.
“It's a sculpture that's making a statement about life in modern times and all the pressures that we have in making a living and being successful in modern times,” he said.
There is also a “stylized” rabbit sculpture and Burke says people don't know what it is when they first look at it. A Chinese artist travelled to Canada in 2011 and created the sculpture to symbolize the year of the rabbit for the Chinese zodiac.
“It's the coolest rabbit you ever saw. It's like a space rabbit.”
The five garden size sculptures, which are much smaller than the monumental sculptures, are of Grecian ladies. One is holding a bouquet of roses and the other four are carrying jugs, he said.
There are now a total of 25 monumental sculptures at the park and about a dozen smaller sculptures. Burke said the new sculptures are a nice addition to the park.
“They further enhance the international representation of the park,” he said. “As this silly little idea of mine has grown over the years, the Bergen sculpture park has really developed.”
The sculptures were donated in August and they were all officially moved into the park last week.
He has received several compliments on the park over the years, but says the number of local people visiting the park is slim.
The majority of people who visit the park are from Calgary and this summer there were about 30-40 people attending every weekend, most of the times on tour buses.
“It's a wonderful thing that our local people have the opportunity to come out and see, without travelling a great distance,” he said.
He encourages people to visit the park because it might not be in Bergen for long, as there are a few communities interested in purchasing the collection and moving it into their town or city.
"It's a huge contribution and a real strong show of support for the arts."Morton Burke
