The Carvings
The carvings are displayed throughout the gardens, creating mini exhibitions amongst the vegetation. Ward’s carvings were obviously influenced by West Coast indigenous masks with their protruding noses, lips and eyes but while they may look like masks, they are hanging sculptures.
Ward mainly used pine and spruce burls he harvested from the Jumping Pound area west of Calgary. Burl wood has aswirling wood grain pattern found in rounded, knotted growths on trees, caused by stress, injury, or fungus. It is a difficult wood to work with using hand tools because the grain runs in multiple directions, requiring sharp tools and careful, slow cutting. But artists love burl wood as they can use each piece’s unique characteristics as inspiration for the art they want to create. In many ways it is a collaboration between the artist and nature.
There is a lovely synergy between the wood carvings and the vegetation in the garden that existed when the garden was first a dense tropical garden from when it opened in 1977 to 2008 when renovations began. And continued when Devonian Gardens was transformed into a series of formal gardens in 2012.
Ice Rink
Many Calgarians are surprised when I tell them that there was a small ice rink in Devonian Gardens when it first opened. It was located on the east side, next to the Lancaster Building. However, it didn’t last long due to structural issues, and it was too small to skate on. It became a pond for a while and was removed completely in the 2008 renovations. I inquired with the City’s Park department for more details on the ice rink and unfortunately, they had nothing on file and suggested I check with the City archives. I decided that can wait for another time.
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