It looks like a barge and not an artwork but that doesn’t bother Cedric Bomford<\/strong>, his brother Nathan nor his father Jim who built it.\u00a0Deadhead<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is a floating sculpture in the shape of a barge because it\u00a0is\u00a0a barge. The vessel is presently moored off the Vancouver Maritime Museum docks much to the delight \u2013and the consternation – of the locals.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are people that swim out every day and berate us,\u201d says Bomford. \u201cAt least it gets people excited. So if people react badly to it at least they\u2019re reacting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Deadhead<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0may look like a random jumble of shapes and sizes but once on board, it becomes an intriguing labyrinth of intersecting planes and angles. In fact the structures are not random at all but deliberately positioned to be aesthetically pleasing, created through a process called \u201cbuilding through thinking.\u201d Yep, the piece was built without plans or blueprints which means there was a lot of tearing down and building up and tearing down until the builders were happy with the form. Bomford calls it \u201cad hoc improvisational architecture\u201d with the creators tinkering with\u00a0the final shape right up to its unveiling.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt embodies thinking as a form of art and as a form of construction. So it\u2019s more of a sketch than it is a building,\u201d says Bomford.<\/p>\n

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Deadhead<\/em>\u00a0started as a pile of collectables. Reclaimed lumber such as hoardings, discarded metals and abandoned window frames were gathered in the Bomford studio, assembled into shapes and then placed onboard the barge. The sculpture is a salute to BC\u2019s maritime history and specifically a nod to the handmade shacks that once dotted the Vancouver shoreline, often constructed out of the timber that washed ashore. Bomford wants the public to reflect upon these former communities and the logging industry upon which many present-day maritime communities depend. The word deadhead refers to log which has broken free of a log boom and is floating, often dangerously, just below the water\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

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Deadhead<\/em>\u00a0took four years to build and was overseen by Barbara Cole of Other Sights for Artists\u2019 Projects<\/strong>, a Vancouver collective dedicated to challenging perceptions and fermenting discussion. The project was financed, in part, from the last remaining cultural funds from the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympics as well as contributions from the Canada Council, various government agencies and private foundations.<\/p>\n

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Come the fall,\u00a0\u00a0Bomford will be heading east to Manitoba to teach sculpture at the U of M\u2019s School of Art while his creation,\u00a0Deadhead,<\/em>\u00a0will be towed to another part of the BC coast and moored,\u00a0\u00a0no doubt intriguing \u2013 and infuriating \u2013 others.<\/p>\n

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+\u00a0Cedric Bomford<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

+\u00a0Other Sights for Artists’ Projects<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looks like a barge and not an artwork but that doesn’t bother Cedric Bomford, his brother Nathan nor his father Jim who built it.\u00a0Deadhead\u00a0is a floating sculpture in the shape of a barge because it\u00a0is\u00a0a barge. The vessel is presently moored off the Vancouver Maritime Museum docks much to the delight \u2013and the consternation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":41746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,4706,36],"tags":[7281,7280,6954,7282,1026],"yoast_head":"\n