HISTORY

 A dog named Gelert

* Sculpture of legendary canine unveiled at sculpture forest

Sculptor Mary Anne Bark house and donor Diana Ferguson stand in front of ‘Gelert,’ the newest addition to the Halliburton Sculpture Forest.

 With: Muthoni Ismail.

The rains cleared and the afternoon was everything that Jim Blake, curator of the Halliburton Sculpture Forest, could have wished for and the crowd that gathered in the woods, between 80 and 100 strong, was icing on the cake. The event, which took place on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 18, was the unveiling of a sculptured canine from Gelert resident Mary Anne Bark house.
Blake smoothly guided the ceremony through the obligatory introduction of the principals and those responsible for the commissioning of the sculpture, to an appreciative crowd that had gathered around the small knoll in the forest.
Short speeches were delivered by Barb Bolin, Chair of the Sculpture Forest committee; Shelly Schell, who spoke on behalf of Sir Sand ford Fleming College; and Brian Markle, who represented the Ontario Trillium Foundation, a funding body for the project.
Diana Ferguson was visibly moved as she spoke of her late husband Alan, and his love of dogs. Ferguson was a major donor for the commissioning of the sculpture which is a memorial to her husband. A small plaque to Alan Ferguson could be seen at the base of the sculpture, which still stood draped atop a huge boulder.
Without further ado, the drapery was cast aside to reveal a majestic life-sized bronze wolfhound named Gelert. Appreciative oaths and amahs were uttered and after photo ops and a word or two from sculptor Bark house, everyone moved to the nearby great hall of the college, where music by cellist Bethany Houghton awaited. After a small pause for refreshments Tammy Rea from Highland Media Arts presented the gathering with four short videos of the making of the sculpture Gelert.
Despite some initial technical glitches, it was through the videos that the event coalesced. They took the gathering through the various stages in development of the sculpture; from the vision, through the research of the wolfhound breed, precise measurements, sketches, foam mock-ups, the precise fitting on the rock upon which the finished Gelert would stand, the wax overlay and the final casting. All the stages were accompanied by short snippets and comments from the delightful Bark house.
The climax of the afternoon was left to Blake. In one of the video segments he gave a wonderful account of the historic story of the original dog Gelert, accompanied by images of period paintings depicting the 13^th century legend.
Briefly, the legend tells of Welsh Lord Llewellyn who, returning home from a hunt, finds his baby’s crib empty and smeared with blood. His faithful Wolfhound Gelert, who was entrusted with the protection of the infant, is also smeared with blood. Llewellyn assumes that the hound has killed the child, and in a fit of rage he uses his sword to kill the dog. Then he finds the infant safe nearby. Next to the infant lies a dead wolf. Too late Llewellyn realizes that Gelert had saved the child by killing the wolf.
In Wales, there is a site and a village called Bedgelert (grave of Gelert), and it’s after the site that our local hamlet of Gelert, which lies in the former Snow don Township, was named. Snow don is also the name of the region in Wales where the legend originated.
So, the sculpture of Gelert, standing majestically on his rock in the Halliburton Sculpture Forest comes ‘alive’ when the legend is known. Bark house, with her usual meticulousness, has created a worthy addition to all the other sculptures in the forest.
In her artist’s statement, Bark house explains how she has interpreted the piece.
“The bronze sculpture situated within a wooded setting lends itself to more universal interpretations. Not only does it acknowledge the long association between man and dog, speaking of dedication and loyalty, but additionally, through the aspect of the figure of the hound, it becomes a sentinel within the forest … watchful, companionable and protective.” Sculptor Mary Anne Bark house and donor Diana Ferguson stand in front of ‘Gelert,’ the newest addition to the Halliburton Sculpture Forest.