Colossal, intricately detailed and often illuminated in various colours, it’s a hard task driving into the District of North Vancouver and not become captivated by the artwork at the corner of Marine Drive and Capilano Road. Two years on from its creation and it continues to turn heads — so much so that the piece, titled Alluvii and designed by U.S.
artist Blessing Hancock — has just been selected as one of the 100 finalists in the CODAawards , an international awards program celebrating those behind public art installations. “It’s a great honour,” said Hancock, a site specific sculpture artist from Tucson, Arizona. Hancock, who took home a CODAaward last year for Unum , a large, illuminated, metal sculpture in California’s Santa Rosa, is familiar with praise.
The artist’s work has been featured in Bloomberg and the New York Times , and her pieces can be seen everywhere from China’s Chengdu to South Carolina, but recognition via the internationally acclaimed CODAawards is in a league of its own, she said. “It’s always such a nice accomplishment, especially as this is one of the bigger, international awards for public art.” The piece, one of three sculptures in a series created for Lions Gate Village, was commissioned in 2022 to be a gateway marker at the entrance to the District.
Despite being one of dozens of applauded pieces crafted by the artist, Alluvii still stands out as one of her most cherished. Namely, she said, for its timeless quality and de.
