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Public art project helps mark Victoria's historic places

A University of Victoria fine arts graduate is extending a helping hand to tourists. In fact, artist Crystal Przybille has created a dozen hands, sculpted in bronze, that are designed to encourage visitors to explore the city’s history.

A University of Victoria fine arts graduate is extending a helping hand to tourists.

In fact, artist Crystal Przybille has created a dozen hands, sculpted in bronze, that are designed to encourage visitors to explore the city’s history.

Unveiled Wednesday, the 12 pieces of art commissioned by the City of Victoria are scattered throughout the downtown core as well as on the Songhees Walkway and Beacon Hill Park. The placement of the pieces are part of the experience, says Przybille, who lives in Kelowna.

“Just as you would find an artifact, it raises questions. What’s this about, what does it symbolize? It encourages people to consider the history of where they are and where they’re from,” said Przybille, who calls her series The Hands of Time.

Przybille was chosen from 80 artists in a national competition to create public art that highlights the city’s 150th anniversary.

The bronze hands vary in culture, age and gender and act as symbols of eras and stories of Victoria.

Some of the symbols include a gold pan, highlighting the 1858 gold rush that brought people to Fort Victoria, and a fan, symbolizing the Chinese community and the role its played on the development of the city. A hand holding a mirror, along the Lower Causeway of the Inner Harbour, represents the next stage of looking to the future of Victoria.

“I didn’t want to create a monolithic thing in a park,” she said. “[The art] brings a focus to what that particular area was historically about.”

Two of the pieces were designed with help from the First Nations community. Clarence Dick, of the Songhees Nation, helped with the design of a canoe paddle, and Carolyn Memnook, of the T’Souke Nation, provided input on the gathering baskets in Beacon Hill Park.

The city spent $100,000 on the new art, including the three-stage competition, material and artist fees and the jury process.

Franc D’Ambrosio, a member of the City of Victoria art in public places committee, sees the installation as the first step toward a long-term goal of creating a city arts department, with staff to promote and acquire art through competition for the city.

D’Ambrosio cited Vancouver and Seattle as cities that have looked to create public art that adds to the experience of tourists.

“These are the kinds of things that hold people’s interest and [that they] will recount when they go away,” he said.

At the unveiling, Mayor Dean Fortin said he saw the art as a way to bolster Victoria’s reputation as a vibrant city. Public art, he said, can serve as another way, beyond festivals, to attract tourists.

“It’s those discoveries and those pieces that enrich the public fabric and make people come back,” he said.

Fortin said the sculptures are the first step in adding more public art around the city.

The next is to have art designed for the new Johnson Street Bridge.

nwells@timescolonist.com