Culture Days at the MacDonald Stewart Art Centre was a success, with over 250 people attending events throughout the day.
Some highlights included the Guelph Tapestry that reached its completion after over 25 hours of sewing by staff, volunteers, and contributors on Oct. 1st as part of the Culture Days activities.
The tapestry features everything from family photos to house keys to a skate lace donated by Paramount Sports Hockey shop on Carden Street. The tapestry was started in downtown Guelph on Sept. 30 and was a community collaboration.
For the community portrait event, many people brought symbolic objects with them, including a letter, a notebook, a camera, a shoe, flowers, a book, a hat, and a woven tapestry portrait. The picture was taken by Dean Palmer, one of Guelph’s best known portrait photographers.
The unveiling of the bear statue attracted a huge crowd on Gordon Street with cars pulling over to watch as city councillor Leanne Piper and director and curator Judith Nasby unveiled the bear to enthusiasm.
The bear was the victim of vandalism on March 18. Guelph Police found it lying on the ground by the bus stop.
The statue is the Begging Bear, by Carl Skelton, and it was in the Donald Forster Sculpture Park.
Officers learned that a number of males jumped on the bear and broke it off its cement footing. The vandals even took photos of themselves wit the damaged statue.
Police estimated the damage to be in the thousands of dollars providing there was no extensive damage to the sculpture itself.
Upon being reinstated at the centre, children and adults rushed to reach out and to embrace the much-loved bear sculpture.
