SOLAR FLARE Sculpture Shines on Stephen Avenue

If you attended last year’s Nuit Blanche festival you probably saw a cloud made of light bulbs. In fact the sculpture known as CLOUD was an international hit, showing up on popular art blogs, and being shown in Moscow, Chicago, Prague and Eindhoven (with an upcoming appearance in Singapore).

Since then, the artists behind CLOUD have been busy in their workshop creating SOLAR FLARE for the Stephen Avenue Walk and the Downtown Calgary Association is proud to announce that the new sculpture is now in place on the 200 west block of Stephen Avenue Walk (8th avenue between centre street and 1st street SW).

Photo credit Doug Wong

The Downtown Calgary Association commissioned the piece in part to create an outdoor work of art that everyone could enjoy. We know that the short days and long, cold nights of the winter can make going outside a less-than fun experience, so we hope that the sculpture will inspire Calgarians to come downtown and bring their friends and family to enjoy the sculpture and explore Downtown Calgary in the same way they do during the warmer months.

The sculpture is also interactive! There are 2 motion sensors that trigger a device inside the sculpture, making the light shimmer in different patterns. The shimmering effect is always different depending on which sensor is triggered and how frequently.

Art fans will want to check out the artist talk being given at The Art Gallery of Calgary on December 19th at 6pm. Caitlind r.c Brown and Wayne Garrett will be in attendance to speak more on their intent with the captivating work of art and answer questions. Attendance is free and is open to the public.

If you’d like to come down and check out SOLAR FLARE and everything else Downtown Calgary has to offer over the holiday season, you may want to visit our Downtown for the Holidays page as well as our Interactive Parking Tool page.

Many downtown businesses are featuring extended holiday hours to help you get your shopping done and parking prices are reduced in the evenings and one weekends. Most Calgary Parking Authority parkades are just $2 after 6pm and the CORE Shopping Centre offers free parking after 4pm in their underground lot.

Tagged as: art, downtown, installation, nuit blanche, public art, sculpture, solar flare