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Bend In The Bow Overview
Role of Art
Art is the expression and experience of human perception, imagination, and ideas. It stimulates thinking and reveals meaning about our place in the world. In its broadest and most profound terms, art can speak to the human condition in relation to the wild. Site-specific public art responds to conditions of a particular place. It has the potential to capture the viewer’s imagination and incite emotional connections that can uniquely resonate with one’s consciousness of a place.
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The Bend in the Bow Public Art Plan looks at opportunities for incorporating sitespecific public art involving collaboration and community into the development, fabric, and experience of Bend in the Bow. The projects will be implemented through The City of Calgary’s Public Art Program in conjunction with Parks, other City Departments, Partners, and Stakeholders.
Bend in the Bow Territory
The Bend in the Bow Project is looking holistically at Calgary’s existing but fragmented open spaces along the Bow River, incorporating them into one continuous open space system that protects wildlife habitat and provides environmental enhancements. The existing parklands include Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Inglewood Wildlands, Pearce Estate Park, and the Corridor, which is comprised of Inglewood Ball Diamonds and green spaces along the Bow River Pathway. The various parcels of Bend in the Bow are each aligned with an important part of Calgary’s historic development and contain stories written in the land:
Inglewood Bird Sanctuary is Canada’s first federally protected urban bird sanctuary and includes the historic homestead of Colonel James Walker, a founding industrialist, businessman, and civic leader whose conservationist son Selby Walker founded the Bird Sanctuary
Inglewood Wildlands had a long early period as part of the traditional territory of First Nations people, following which it was part of Walker’s homestead and then occupied by the BritishAmerican Oil Refinery and later cleaned up through efforts by a consortium of volunteer groups and its current owner, Suncor
Pearce Estate Park is named for William E. Pearce, a land planner who experimented with irrigation, surveying, urban forestry, and agriculture on his Inglewood homestead; it houses the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery and Bow Habitat Station, which educates the public about aquatic habitat
The Corridor has a long history of being traveled and traversed by wildlife, First Nations people, and later the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway; it is currently undergoing a bioengineered restoration of its riverbank, which was heavily damaged during Calgary’s 2013 flood
In envisioning the Redevelopment Plan, The City split Bend in the Bow into two phases:
Phase I—including Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and Inglewood Wildlands; with a focus on conservation and stewardship of nature and culture, educational programs, and passive recreation
Phase II—including Pearce Estate Park and the Corridor; with opportunities for active recreation, flood control, enhanced wildlife mobility, conservation and stewardship of nature and culture, and educational programs
Bend in the Bow Process
The formation of Bend in the Bow was prompted in part by restoration efforts at various parcels comprising the site, following Calgary’s 2013 flood. The importance of the site’s natural and cultural assets pointed to the need for a longterm plan. In a process led by Calgary Parks and including engagement with stakeholders and the public, the Bend in the Bow Redevelopment Plan, of which this Public Art Plan is an integral accompanying component, will serve as a guiding document for future redevelopment at all four project parcels. Bend in the Bow will be implemented through phased detail design and construction, including artist calls, over many years as different opportunities and funds become available. The Redevelopment Plan was crafted by a multidisciplinary team comprising consultants as well as staff from various City departments. Artists and Public Art staff have been an important part of the team who envisioned the plan and will continue to have roles in the development and programming of Bend in the Bow. Other Bend in the Bow team members include landscape architects, biologists, conservationists, reclamation specialists, water resource engineers, environmental scientists, environmental educators, and historians. Many of the public art projects identified in the Public Art Plan will be conceived and developed by artists working collaboratively with Bend in the Bow’s project partners.
