Scattered throughout the waterfront walkway in Sidney are nine beautiful sculptures.
Spanning from the waterfront from Beacon Avenue to Tulista Park, the public art creations are part of the Sidney Seaside Sculpture Walk, an outdoor gallery that was created in 2012.
“It’s been a great success in Sidney for [nearly] ten years now. Public art is really important in our community,” says Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith.
Most of the pieces are available to the public to purchase, except for one.
On Sept. 15, Italian-Canadian sculptor Armando Barbon donated his beautiful and inspiring sculpture called Pure Energy to the Sidney Seaside Sculpture Walk. The spectacular sculpture will remain a permanent fixture of the popular walkway.
“Before, it was here just for show. It was my property, just for the show,” says Barbon. “Now that they gave me a nice place [to display the piece], I decided to donate it.”
Barbon’s granddaughters Lina and Lucia Nanni were both at the unveiling ceremony.
“It means everything,” says Lucia. “It’s great. We’re so proud of him, and every one of his sculptures is amazing.”
“He really teaches us that anything is possible,” adds Lina. “That no matter how old you are or what you want to do, you can do it, and this sculpture is it.”
Barbon was born in Italy but moved to Victoria when he was 27, later was joined by his wife and two children. He had had always wanted to get into sculpting but running a successful business – North Douglas Distributing – for nearly three decades consumed a lot of his time.
“Well, I always wanted to do it but I never had time,” Barbon explains. “I had to look after the business, and before that, I had to work. So, there was no weeks and months to give to sculpture.”
Despite the busy life, Barbon always knew that “one day” he would get around to sculpting.
Then one day in the late 1990s, Barbon and his wife, Yole, were visiting a statue park in Bologna, Italy, when he realized the time had come to embrace his true passion.
“They [were showing us] around the sculpting park and [Barbon] said ‘teach me to do it because I’d love to do it,’ and they said ‘sure’ and gave him a block of marble, and he created something,” recalls Yole, adding “From that, it started.”
Barbon, now an internationally recognized sculptor, and has magnificent pieces on display all over the world.
Yole is proud of her husband’s immense talent, but she is not surprised.
“Actually, Armondo was always creative, like a designer building a house,” she says with a smile.
Wayne McNiven, board director of ArtSea Community Arts Council, said he’s thrilled with Barbon’s generous donation.
“There’s still about four pieces in the Sculpture Walk that are not permanent,” says McNiven. “So we’re actually looking for businesses to purchase and donate the remaining pieces to the town of Sidney. And then, we’d like to build on the sculpture walk.”
“Art brings out something in everybody,” adds McNiven. “In these times, when we are all going through something so difficult, an expression of art is an expression of joy.”
For more information on Barbon click here.
Armando Barbon, left, stands beside Pure Energy, a beautiful sculpture that he donated to the Sidney Seaside Sculpture Walk (Veronica Cooper/CHEK)
Veronica Cooper
