Douglas Bentham wins national competition for public sculpture in Edmonton

Oeno Gallery is pleased to congratulate acclaimed Saskatoon artist Douglas Bentham on winning a national competition for a public sculpture to be placed outside of Rogers Place, Edmonton's new hockey arena, set to open in September 2016. Visit Oeno Gallery's Sculpture Garden at Huff Estates to see our very own Douglas Bentham sculpture, "Ring" on exhibition this year. 

"The EAC’s national-level call was awarded to Saskatchewan’s Douglas Bentham, a 68-year-old steel sculptor active since the late ’60s. His six-metre-high Skater’s Arch will face 102nd Street and 105th Avenue to the northeast of the rink, and is inspired by the curved cuts of skate blades on the ice. The artist is hoping to make the giant, brightly coloured loop more interactive than a typical outdoor abstract sculpture. “I’ve got kind of a mantra,” says Bentham from his acreage outside Saskatoon. “Public art must meaningfully engage the setting if it’s to become truly public. Some guys of my ilk who take things a little too seriously cringe at this statement, but you don’t need to compromise, you just need to make it more accessible.” “I think we just have to take a chance and do something bold and meaningful.”- From Fish Griwkowsky’s article in the Edmonton Journal, July 14, 2015: