Sculpture unveiled in downtown Chatham start of something bigger

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A four-metre-tall sculpture of a crow unveiled in a Chatham park Thursday is the “first of many” destination sculptures coming to Chatham-Kent, Mayor Darrin Canniff says.

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“We’re going to have these in every town across the community,” he said after the 1,840-kilogram sculpture, created by world-class chainsaw carver Mike Winia of Bothwell, was revealed in downtown Zonta Park.

Winia, known around the world for “pushing the envelope with the chainsaw,” created the sculpture from a large piece of local white oak, he said.

Being able to create something on this scale in his own community, which has received such great support, is fantastic, he said. “That in itself helps with the inspiration as an artist.”

The sculpture, dubbed Russell Crow after the mascot of downtown Chatham’s popular Crowfest event, is designed to be a photo opportunity, the mayor said. A sign behind it will say, “Smile, you’re in Chatham-Kent.”

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Crowfest co-chair Andrew Thiel said the crow sculpture project began with a conversation with Winia, who got out an app and said he had an idea for the sculpture.

“This is the result today,” Thiel said.

The plan is to work with every community to determine what kind of sculpture they want and where, Canniff said. For example, a mastodon sculpture is planned for Highgate, where mastodon bones were found on a nearby farm in 1890.

“It’s meant to be, ‘That’s cool, I want to take my picture with it,’ ” Canniff said.

The plan is to create something similar to a barn quilt tour, encouraging people to travel around Chatham-Kent to see the different sculptures, he added.

This is just the beginning of the partnership with Winia, who said he was excited for the next steps in the project and hoped to achieve “world status.”

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The aim next year is to work to create a massive sculpture somewhere along Highway 401 to promote Chatham-Kent and hopefully set a Guinness World Record, Canniff said. What the sculpture will be is still in the works.

Hydro One Community Benefit program funds are paying for the whole thing, the mayor said. The provincial utility is providing $10 million over 10 years for arts, culture and recreation efforts in return for Chatham-Kent hosting transmission expansion projects.

“This is part of many things we’re going to be doing across the community to enhance arts and culture,” Canniff said. “It’s not taxpayer dollars.”

eshreve@postmedia.com

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