Mending all the marbles Orbital outdoor artworks have rolled back to their creator for tender loving restoration By: Eva Wasney Posted: 2:00 AM CDT Friday, Oct. 25, 2024

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This article was published 25/10/2024 (510 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Are we losing our marbles?

If you’ve travelled past the intersection of River Avenue and Donald Street recently, you may have noticed the absence of some playful public art pieces.

Don’t fret, the Marbles at Mayfair have only rolled away from their post temporarily for some much-needed maintenance.

The installation — made up of 21 supersized fibreglass marbles — was created by local artist Erica Swendrowski in 2010 during a residency with the Winnipeg Arts Council.

The colourful orbs originally lived downtown, serving as planters and light sculptures along the median of Portage Avenue. In 2016, they were picked up and scattered throughout the greenspace of the Mayfair Recreation Centre.

At the moment, however, the marbles are decorating Swendrowski’s driveway.

“If we’re sitting at the table and looking out the window, you can always see people checking them out,” she says of passersby in her southeast Winnipeg neighbourhood.

This is the third time the marbles have been refurbished with funding from the arts council.

Swendrowski has stepped away from making public art in recent years and is enjoying the chance to revisit the project — although her home bears reminders of her involvement in the medium over the last decade; a collection of jewel-toned domes, prototypes from an installation at Victoria General Hospital, sits underneath a stand of evergreens in the backyard.

“I love it — it feels good to redo them,” she says of the marbles, adding some of the pieces are being retired while others are being redesigned with new swirling colour combinations

When they were first relocated, the artwork needed a new coat of paint and patching to fix dings from rocks kicked up by the constant flow of downtown traffic.

Some of the sculptures were touched up again several years ago, after being tagged with graffiti.

Earlier this year, they were hauled back into the shop to repair structural damage and environmental wear and tear.

“Some of them, the paint was severely chipped and coming off … and I don’t think it was targeted damage, but there was one totally split in half,” says Swendrowski, who suspects the piece may have been clipped by a snow plow.

“I think some of them were kind of loved to death, too.”

The marbles are expected to return to Mayfair next spring.

Since most public art is located outdoors — exposed to the elements and a barrage of human interactions loving, dubious and otherwise — maintenance is a going concern.

The City of Winnipeg adopted a formal public art policy in 2004, the administration of which is overseen by WAC. There are now nearly 100 installations in the citywide collection, each with its own upkeep needs.

“You have some works that require no maintenance,” says tamara rae biebrich, WAC’s public art manager. “If you have something with working electronics or (moving pieces), there’s a cost to maintain that.”

Repairs are covered by a maintenance reserve fund held by the city and managed by the arts council. Contributions come from new public art commissions. A minimum of 10 per cent of the total annual cost of new projects is added to the fund and pooled for future use.

The budget for upkeep varies widely. The arts council has spent as much as $70,000 in a year to repair multiple installations and as little as $3,000 in other years, biebrich says.

Refurbishment of the marbles is set to cost roughly $25,000, owing to the specialized nature of the work and materials. Swendrowski and her painter are using automotive pigment and a heavy-duty clear coat to protect from UV rays, which they hope will buy the artwork another 10 years of public enjoyment.

Safety was also a concern when the marbles were first designed.

While the round fibreglass balls are quite strong by virtue of their shape and material, they’re also bolted into an underground anchor to keep them upright — a prescient decision, since the marbles have become an ad hoc play structure for kids and park-goers.

There’s a letting go that has to happen for makers of public art.

“I put a lot into them,” Swendrowski says. “But I do realize that … they’re just out there in the public.”

As much as possible, WAC tries to position artwork in areas protected from sun, snow and road salt to extend longevity. Artists are also advised to use metals, woods, synthetics and paints capable of handling the city’s seasonal swings from 30 C to – 30 C, and beyond.

“We try to make sure that they’re made of durable materials that are going to last and are going to weather,” biebrich says. “Winnipeg has unique conditions because of the huge temperature fluctuations.”

Programs in other climes deal with an entirely different set of outdoor hazards.

“In coastal cities, they really worry about the acidity of bird poo,” she says with a laugh. “Because that can threaten their collection.”

Tracking the condition of artwork presents its own challenges. While WAC has conducted audits in the past, it’s currently not feasible to assess the entire collection on a regular basis — especially since the city eliminated public art from its 2024 budget.

Instead, the organization relies on reports of vandalism or disrepair from city staff and comments logged through 311. The state of the marbles, for example, was flagged by an arts council tour guide.

Twenty years into the public art program, the council expects to have to dip into the maintenance fund more frequently as more of the collection ages. The organization has also had to respond to more incidents of vandalism in recent years.

“We’re trying to be as proactive as possible,” biebrich says. “But, again, with limited resources we’re doing the best we can.”

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @evawasney