Sculptures winging through Lowertown

By Nancy Miller Chenier

Viewing these sculptural pieces may give you a slight kink in the neck but looking up in Lowertown is worth the effort. Our quartier has a proliferation of outdoor public art featuring winged creatures. Some are representations of our feathered bird friends while others have human forms. All seem content to stay in our neighbourhood. 

Let us start with wings and mythology. If you look closely at the Mercury figure on top of the cupola at the corner of Dalhousie and George Streets, you will see some small wings on his hat and his ankles. Romans considered Mercury to be a messenger of the gods, a communicator who could fly like a bird with incredible speed. One of his other roles was overseeing commerce and wealth, and his location may be helpful to our ByWard Market merchants hoping that he can bring them success.

In the nearby sky on top of the CTV building on George Street, a Canadian goddess called Dagain flies with her lover, a Canada goose. The figures and the story were created by sculptor Bruce Garner and his wife, Tamaya. The folk tale suggests that if you find white down feathers after a bright full moon, it means that the loving couple have flown nearby and holding the feathers will grant you one wish. 

Although Canada geese abound in our riverside parks, our islands – Green, Maple, and Porter’s – are home to a wide variety of other birds. On Green Island at the front of our former city hall, Louis Archambault’s two large abstract sculptures of birds look to the sky, their original water fountains that sprayed passersby were turned off years ago. Toward Rideau Falls, the Commonwealth Air Force monument has a large bronze globe topped by a majestic, feathered bird preparing to fly, a symbolic eagle showing strength and sharp vision. Here it is worth looking down where the entire world is being held up by three small Canadian beavers. 

Just off of the Minto Bridges, on Maple Island, a careful look reveals that the white outline of a heron shares space with a whale in Amy Thompson’s sculpture. Carrying the multilingual title of Rise/Levee/Kogahamog, the heron represents the current biodiversity of the Rideau River while the whale points to the Champlain Sea of the area’s glacial past. Further upstream and adjacent to the St. Patrick Street Bridge, a visit to Porter’s Island and the Gary Armstrong Long Term Care Home provides a delightful view of cj fleury’s Flock of Fancies, multiple birds sitting on balcony railings dressed in a glamourous garments adorned by accessories.

Now is a good time to focus on the many angels that singly and in multiples float on top of pedestals at busy street corners and in our more tranquil nearby parks. Take the short stroll to the former Anglesea Square, now called Jules Morin Park, at 400 Clarence Street East. Look up at the winged creatures on weathervanes at the park entrances, a special tribute to a Lowertown author Brian Doyle and his book, Angel Square. Each angel sits atop a weathervane carrying a different message. The representations of sports, homes, and schools reflect a Lowertown past and herald a new future for this eastern neighbourhood that triumphed over 1960s destructive urban planning.

Along St Patrick Street facing the cathedral on Sussex Avenue, an angel holding a trumpet flew from the roof of the mortuary chapel of Notre Dame Cemetery and landed on its pedestal. Could it be Gabriel preparing to announce the Judgement Day and the second coming of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible? Just a little further along Sussex at Rideau Street, the angel sculptures of Erin Roberston represent three virtues – faith represented in flight, charity with hands extended, and hope carrying a baby. Despite the fact that they are looking a little stressed, they stand as messengers of harmony, tolerance, and generosity.

In Lowertown, our winged creatures represent the diversity that is our community. The winged creatures scattered throughout our community take different forms, but all have a story that enhances our experience of this neighbourhood. They may be mythical or patriotic or whimsical or just beautifully artistic, but all urge us to look up and think more deliberately about their place in our world.