Amid downtown Kingston’s weekend foot traffic, two critters are always ready to party.
Since 2021, Brandon Vickerd’s anthropomorphic sculptures, Wilds of Kingston, have stood at the infamous intersection between Princess and Division St. Kingston’s night club district—nicknamed “the Hub” by the City of Kingston as part of the Hub Project—is the perfect place for art that emphasizes the wilder aspects of the area’s regular characters.
Each weekend, Queen’s students flock to the Hub’s quartet of bars: Trinity Social, the Brass Pub, Stages Nightclub, and the Ale House. Amid the crowd are two unique creatures: Vickerd’s human-like pigeon and squirrel, commissioned by the City of Kingston.
The pair may seem at first like fellow Brass Pub patrons, possibly waiting for an Uber home or looking for a friend. But a closer look reveals they’re actually cartoon-like mascots cast in bronze.
Vickerd is a sculptor and professor at York University, currently serving as Dean of the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design. Wilds of Kingston is an attempt to make people “think about public spaces in different ways, or [to] enrich their experience of the cities they live in,” Vickerd said in an interview with The Journal.
When the City of Kingston put out a call for installation proposals in 2021 as part of The Hub Project, Vickerd visited Princess St. to scope out the space. He recalled a moment of inspiration he experienced there that informed the piece.
“I was sitting in [the Hub] and there was this squirrel eating a piece of pizza on a bench. Then this random college kid just walked by the squirrel, gave it a head nod, and said, ‘What’s up,’ as if he knew it,” Vickerd said. “To me, that was a moment of humour. It made me think about how animals and humans coexist in the city, and how we might treat them as equals.”
Vickerd chose a pigeon and a squirrel as non-human avatars of Kingston to reflect the animal species most densely populating the city. The human aspects of their bodies were modelled after the University population frequenting the area—a connection to Queen’s students was central for Vickerd. He designed the poses, clothing, and scale of the figures to reflect the demographics he observed on Princess St.
“[The statutes] have to read as youthful: jeans, hoodies, casual postures. They’re meant to embody the life of that area in that moment in time,” he said.
For this moment in time, Kingston-based band The Tragically Hip remain popular with locals, young and old, a crucial part of Kingston’s music culture.
The pigeon statue wears a Tragically Hip T-shirt. Vickerd received permission directly from the band to incorporate it. “If you’re going to do a public art piece for Kingston, you have to acknowledge the musical history of the city. Including a Hip T-shirt felt like a subtle tribute to both Kingston’s nightlife and its culture,” said Vickerd.
Vickerd admits he hadn’t known the extent of this reputation until recently. For him, the greatest reward is hearing his work has become a part of Kingston’s culture.
“The thing about public art is you install things, you have an opening, and then you leave. Nobody ever tells you how it’s received. But hearing they’ve become selfie spots, landmarks, even part of the social life of Kingston, that’s a real sign of success to me,” he said.
These tenacious party animals are ready to hit the bars, rain or shine, remaining as a playful reminder to club-goers of the unique artistry Kingston has to offer.
Tags
Art, Nightlife, sculpture, the Hub
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to eic@queensjournal.ca.