Vertere
Paul Epp
8'h (tallest section) x 35' w
Pressure treated wooden beams, paint
Installed in 1981
Canada Games Complex
In 1981 Thunder Bay hosted the Canada Summer Games. To enhance the quality of life for Thunder Bay residents and to accommodate the Games, a variety of infrastructure improvements were begun. One of these new facilities, the Canada Games Complex, was originally built to accommodate the aquatic events and has since become the primary provider of aquatic and fitness activities in the City.
During the Games a national competition was held to assemble various works of art for adjudication and display at the Canada Games Complex. The result was the donation of fifty-eight works of art by Creative Canada, some of which can still be viewed at the Complex. Cambridge artist Paul Epp's artwork Vertere won the Outdoor Wooden Sculpture Competition and currently rests outside the Complex's main entrance.
The twisting, turning forms of the wooden beams in Vertere embody the motion, flexibility and strength of competitive athletes. It remains one of the most recognizable and earliest examples of contemporary public art in the City.
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