First Light
Installation Completed March 2008
Eagle Lynn Townhomes Public Art Project, North Vancouver, BC
Co-Sculptors Oliver Harwood and Marie Bortolotto

The street name Sunnyhurst, an old Anglo-Saxon phrase for a sunny grove of trees, was the inspiration for this public artwork at the entrance to Eagle Lynn Townhomes, Sunnyhurst Road, North Vancouver. First Light is a poetic representation of a sun disc and a grouping of trees. The hand carved limestone sun disc with abstract and ancient markings refers to stories of the community embedded in the passage of time. Drawing from the Northwest Coast Native tradition, three stylized tree totems included here, suggest a family unit. These hand carved cedar logs are reclaimed fallen logs found at Lynn Headwaters Provincial Park. A sunburst illuminates the sidewalk between them. The first light of dawn casts its rays upon the landscape, bringing a new day full of hope and vitality.

Oliver Harwood and Marie Bortolotto awarded Kelowna Public Art Project

Vancouver Firm Gets Art Contract
by Wayne Moore - Story: 35813 Kelowna News
Dec 9, 2007 / 4:00 pm / edited

A Vancouver firm will be commissioned to produce a public art piece for the front of the St. Paul Street Supportive Housing project. Oliver Harwood and Marie Bortolotto were selected from a list of 25 submissions. The short list of five finalists included two artists from Vancouver, Geert Maas from Kelowna along with submissions from Kitchener, Ontario and Sackville, New Brunswick.

The winning piece, titled 'Arborvitae,' or 'Tree of Life," is an art feature which will frame the main entranceway to the Cardington Apartments.

It is a stone wall mural, consisting of two tree icons fabricated entirely of natural stone. The artists describe the 'Tree of Life' as an ancient, universal symbol of growth, strength, renewal and connectedness.

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