Chilliwack – Public art is always a hot debate. Love it or hate it.
In March 2021, Chilliwack Council voted on a $60 thousand proposal to spend the cash on “Meetcha at the 5”. An art piece that will sit in front of the CEPCO building across from the Clock at Five Corners.
On January 11, 2021 the City of Chilliwack let out a Request For Proposal seeking submissions for a public art piece to be placed at the corner of Young and Yale Road, and in front of the business centre located at 46115 Yale Road.
After closing bids there were ten submissions with only three moving forward once reviewed for technical merit. The CPAAC then scored the those advanced submissions with “Meecha At the Five” receiving the highest score collectively as well as receiving the most first ranked votes.
“Meecha At the Five”, created by Kilvert+Kilvert a local arts and design team was designed to “pay homage to Chilliwack’s growth from a small riverboat landing to an uniquely vibrant and expanding urban Fraser Valley community”.
The Original FVN story is here.
The follow up story is here including Council concerns.
At the time of the council passage of the plan with the funding, then Councilor Sue Knott, also Chair of Art Projects said that the “5” can change colour ie for October Purple Light Nights, Pink Shirt Day etc. – similar to the colour changes that you see for the roof of BC Place.
After a few delays (there were hopes that the meeting statue would be ready for the December 2022 Rotary Christmas Parade) the flowing artwork is live.
From the Citry:
“Meetcha at the Five” was designed by local Chilliwack artists David and Krista Kilvert, and fabricated by TDH Experiential Fabricators. The piece was designed to honour the area’s Indigenous history and acknowledge Chilliwack’s growth into a uniquely vibrant and expanding urban Fraser Valley community.
The piece features a 3-metre high five with a sculpted bird and three berries secured to it, highlighting the role nature plays in the community. The structure is fabricated with metal and polycarbonate, and LED lighting. Inside the illuminated five are pictograms designed to reflect the area historically, and moving forward. The artists consulted with local First Nations leadership on the design of the pictograms and territory acknowledgement. The circular metal base of the piece reads, “Chilliwack is located on the traditional, cultural and unceded territory of the Ts’elxwéyeqw and Pelólhxw tribes of the Stó:lō Coast Salish peoples.”
Council approved the conceptual design of the piece in June 2021, following recommendations from the Public Art Advisory Committee.
“The Public Art Advisory Committee was looking for a piece that would provide a strong visual and suit the area’s new look,” said Councillor Harv Westeringh, Vice-Chair of the Public Art Advisory Committee. “It was a pleasure to see local artists David and Krista Kilvert’s work on this piece to uniquely fit our community.”
The committee felt that this piece best met the requirements of the Request for Proposal, which were to increase foot traffic, animate Chilliwack’s historical downtown and draw attention to Chilliwack as a vital municipality that promotes arts, culture and tourism.
To learn more about public art in the City of Chilliwack, visit chilliwack.com/publicart.
