Despite the absence of performer Shane Koyczan, who's flight from Vancouver was cancelled, the Castlegar Sculpturewalk Gala was another shining success.
About a dozen of the 30 Sculpturewalk artists were in attendance Saturday night at the Element Club for the gala. The big People's Choice Award winner was Patient Hunter by Kevin Kratz and James Karthein of Krestova.
The Artistic Merit award went to Kate Tupper of Argenta for Full Metal Jacket.
"It's the best year ever," said Pat Field, former Sculpturewalk president and project manager who still helps out. "We have 30 sculptures and 30 artists and 7,800 happy people. It's been pretty fantastic."
When Sculpturewalk began three years, Field and his group could only imagine the success the program would eventually become.
"We knew it would take three to five years to do a culture change," he said. "What I mean by culture change is where people's values, attitudes and behaviours change and they actually care about art - which they do now. They take their families down there, their kids down. It's part of the fabric of the community now. That's why we're going to be able to make it sustainable because people are thinking about sculptures now. It's a really neat transition."
Field was impressed with this year's group of sculptures and thinks the talent grows each year.
"We have such a variety of sculptures of different mediums," he said. "We have stone, we have metal, we have ceramic, we have bronze, we have steel. So many different mediums and so many ideas. Some people are humorous, some people are joyous, some are very serious while others are ethereal. That's what makes this a success. There's something for everybody."
Without the headlining performer, audience had more of a chance to mingle and chat.
"It was kind of neat, because it gave people a better opportunity to communicate," said Field. "Everybody is socializing a lot more. People are now coming to these events, now for the third year, they know each other. They haven't seen each other for a year. Everybody has a smile on. Everybody recognized that this is a neat social event."
The Sculpturewalk committee is already busy planning for next year's event.
"The call for sculptors closes on Nov. 1," said Field. "The new ones are juried in on Nov. 15 of this year."
The current sculptures will stay up until April and the new ones will go up in May.
Artistic Merit
4th Place ($500): Sack Race, artist Roger Golden (Toronto, ON)
3rd Place ($500): Look And You Will Find It, artist Kate Christopher (Mahtomedi, MN)
2nd Place ($1000) QR, artist Carl Schlichting (Winlaw, BC)
Winner ($3000): Full Metal Basket, artist Kate Tupper (Argenta, BC)
People's Choice
3rd Place tie ($500 each): Dancing Myself, artist Rabi'a (Winlaw, BC)
Soaring, artist Spring Shine (Argenta, BC)
2nd Place ($1000): Salmon, artist Christina Nick (Brackendale, BC)
Winner (sculpture purchased by City of Castlegar for permanent display, $3000 cash): Patient Hunter, artists Kevin Kratz and James Karthein (Krestova, BC)