A Maritime sculptor is working on a piece that will greet visitors at a Prince Edward Island Park.
Artist Julie Glaspy has spent the past two months carving a 20 tonne block of granite at her Burlington, P.E.I farm.
“Yeah, long days, pretty much dark-to-dark sort of thing and I have a couple of helpers that have come in, but mostly it has been my baby I guess,” says Glaspy.
When the sculpture is complete, it will be moved to the International Children’s Memorial Place, a park that pays tribute to children who have passed away too soon.
Bill MacLean founded the group that brought the park to life, about 13 years ago.
MacLean’s son Trevor was in a snowmobiling accident on Jan. 4, 1995. He passed away six days later in hospital.
“You never get over it, you get through it somehow, usually, not everybody does, but usually and we hope that our site and this stone will help people in that regard,” says MacLean.
Glaspy has a family member connected to the park and was asked to look at it after attending a sculpting conference in Saint John this summer.
“I wanted to focus on something that wasn’t really mournful, but more of a celebration, so light and the warmth of our heart is more of a celebration of the life, rather than the loss,” says Glaspy.
The block of granite is now a life-sized family. The dad is six feet tall, with an inverted space for the lost child. Once installed, the light of that child will shine through.
“To me, that is the big meaning of this particular carving, that the family is back together,” says MacLean.
“The park is about healing and it is about hope and it is about going through something that is really rough and really hard to do, the loss of a child,” says Glaspy. “So, we wanted to focus on bringing the light in to all of that. Bringing healing and giving it the chance for people to get together and know they are not alone in this grief.”
The sculpture is almost done and, weather permitting, the goal is to have it installed by the spring.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
