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Sculptors make a splash at Esquimalt's Macaulay Point Park

Sculpture Splash will bring together 18 artists from across the Island and beyond to display 50 sculptures along the seaside walkway
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Fred Dobbs

After hosting both an arts and a music festivals this summer, Esquimalt’s Township Community Arts Council is giving local sculptors a day in the park with Sculpture Splash.

Taking place at Macaulay Point Park, Sculpture Splash will bring together 18 artists from across the Island and beyond to display 50 sculptures along the seaside walkway. Arts council president Morlene Tomlinson promised work ranging from metal to marble, with one artist even working with mud.

Tomlinson said she was inspired after attending an outdoor sculpture festival at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

“When you’re viewing sculptures in a gallery, you could be in Rome, China, Parksville, anywhere,” Tomlinson said. “But at (Macaulay Point), the only place you could be is Esquimalt. It’s uniquely west coast, and every bit as lovely as Bondi Beach.”

Like the Esquimalt Arts Festival, hosted earlier this month at Gorge Park, sculptors will be present to explain and demonstrate their craft.

“There will be something here for everyone,” Tomlinson said. “People can touch the sculptures and watch the sculptors at work. It would be amazing if we could inspire at least a few young people to take up art, whether its sculpting or something else.”

Sculpture Splash will be preceded by a “Sunset Champagne Gala” Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m.  to help pay for the festival. Tickets for the gala are $100 and will include live music, an award presentation and a chocolate sculpture created by Vancouver Island Sculptors’ Guild president Fred Dobbs.

Sculpture Splash itself takes place Sept. 20, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sept. 21, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Macaulay Point Park in Esquimalt.