The Epcor Tower on 101 Street has a magnificent foyer and in that foyer are several pieces of art. As soon as you walk through the main doors you are confronted with a huge, 7,200 lbs sculpture of a grizzly bear eating salmon. It is quite splendid.
Then, on the right-hand side of the foyer, is a maquette for that sculpture encased in a transparent box.
It amused me to take a picture through the box so that the small bear looked large and the large bear in the distance looked small.
On the other side of the entrance is an artwork that I spent some time contemplating and it evoked several images for me. My first thought was that it was a giant slingshot that David could have put to excellent use when faced with Goliath. Then I decided it was much too industrial for that and I wondered if it was, in fact, an object related to Epcor’s business in providing and maintaining utilities. It looks like a big scoop of some kind.
I could not find the name of its creator and I could not find a similar image online, so if anyone knows what it is and who made it I will add that information here. Alternatively, imaginative guesses about potential uses for the object will be thoroughly enjoyed.
UPDATE 3 Sept 2019: I just revisited this piece and discovered in the floor the information plate that I had missed previously. (I had been looking for it on the walls!) It turns out it isn’t a pea soup scoop after all. It is a collapsed parachute! So now I have to rethink my perceptions of it.
Snowbird of Paradise 
As I didn’t do so well with the Gravy Boat I shall give this one a miss.
Nice bear sculpture, though.
Aw, I was depending on you, Ark. I thought your gravy boat perception was spot on!
Give me a few moments maybe something’ll come to me while I’m on the loo.
Ha ha!
Thank you for expressing enthusiasm for “Want” at EPCOR Tower !!! I made it and another sculpture that when a visitor cranked a handle would blow wooden and paper parachute forms into the air within a steel cage.
http://www.roydenmills.com
Thank you for dropping by! I enjoy see and photographing public art when I come across it in my walks about the city. If the paper parachute sculpture is still in place I would love to see it.
Bear is quite scary.
It is huge! I wondered if it was life-size. I’ve seen black bears but I’ve never seen a grizzly so I don’t know how big they are.
Edit to add: OK, this bear is much bigger than lifesize. Phew! An adult grizzly is about 4 ft at shoulder height. This sculpted bear looks to be over 7 ft. https://www.bearlife.org/grizzly-bear.html
The Bear is amazing. I could look at it for hours. I love bears. However the pea green soup scoop leaves me wondering!
I would have spent longer looking at the bear if it were placed somewhere near a seat. But, as it is right in front of the doors, I kept walking.
Maybe that scoop is for pea soup! Lots of it. Excellent idea.
Edit to add: I just noticed in my photo the seats beside the doors! Silly me.
The bear is stunning. I love the detail.
That last one reminds me of the chairs at the new NAIT complex. Give me a few pillows and it’d make a cosy nook!
I like the bear, too. I may have to go back for another look.
I like your chair with cushions idea; out on the back deck would be nice. In fact, when I did a Google image search for this sculpture, the system showed me only chairs!
🙂
Ooh Oh Oh! We could even string up mosquito netting and just live out there!
Brilliant! I’d vote for that.