SPONSORED BY BROADSTREET PROPERTIES
Alex Witcombe has brought many unexpected forms of life to Campbell River as public art over the last decade or so.
He’s worked on murals and during the last few years he’s added driftwood as a medium, which he fashions into creatures such as foxes, dogs, raccoons, birds of prey, mammoths, dinosaurs, even aliens. Many of these now grace the shores of the community.
Much of the work around the recent driftwood sculptures goes into finding the right pieces. He estimates he spends about 70 per cent of his work time on collecting material, but each piece is different so it’s hard to keep track of time.
“There is no actual set time on each piece,” he says.
In 2015, he put together the Discovery Passage “ocean odyssey” mural in the city with friend Nick Hutton-Jay at the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Science.
“It was part of a facade improvement program,” he says.
Last year, Witcombe partnered with Greenways Land Trust to raise $2,500 for their Christmas Fundraiser by building a huge customized West-Coast-themed driftwood mural called Whiskey’s Run.
“It turned out really cool, way better than I expected,” he says.
Greenways even received another donation recently from a woman who had so much fun looking for Fergus the Fox around the trails of the Beaver Lodge Lands.
Witcombe has received commissions, but he really views the public art as a gift.
“I never ask for donations for the public art,” he says.
As far as what’s next, Witcombe hopes to put together some larger, more substantial pieces and is looking into setting up a crowdfunding site to help with his projects.