Martha Sturdy's One World sculpture installed on West Van waterfront for Harmony Arts Festival

Monumental yellow piece is one of several public artworks that the artist-designer has created for the event

The installation of artist and designer Martha Sturdy’s *One World* sculpture. Photos by Raeff Miles, courtesy the artist

AN ICON OF the West Coast design scene has just installed a vibrant yellow public-art piece on the West Vancouver waterfront for the Harmony Arts Festival.

Festival “featured artist” Martha Sturdy’s two-piece sculpture installation, called One World and curated by Hilary Letwin, is presented by the West Vancouver Art Museum during the event August 4 to 13.

Measuring around 11 feet tall, the artwork expresses the tension and uncertainty of the Earth, as well as optimism for its future. It also evokes fond memories of Sturdy’s signature, geometric resin jewellery pieces from the 1980s.

One World features two balanced, sun-yellow aluminum shapes, teetering on an axis—suggesting a globe at its tipping point. In the site-specific sculpture announcement, the now octogenarian Sturdy expressed a responsibility to share her lifetime of observations with future generations: “We have one world. Let's take care of it."

Elsewhere during the multidisciplinary arts fest, Sturdy’s new Right or Wrong public artwork features three large sculptures, in the shape of Xs rendered in pink, blue, and yellow. In these works, Sturdy is exploring the meaning of the letter X as a social marker, encouraging a more positive interpretation, in which failure can lead to unexpected opportunity, reinvention, and creativity.

Based in West Vancouver, Sturdy has a long and distinguished career working across resin, brass, steel, aluminum, and salvaged wood. Her jewellery designs, homewares, and other pieces have been featured in Vogue, Wallpaper**, Harper’s Bazaar, and Architectural Digest*. She received her She studied at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she was also later granted an Honorary Doctor of Letters in 2006, and in 2002, she was presented with a Golden Jubilee Award by the Governor General for her achievements internationally as a Canadian artist..

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is cofounder and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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