Outdoor Art Collection
Since the formation of the UBC Okanagan Campus in 2005, works of outdoor art have been collected and displayed on campus as part of the university’s Public Art Collection.
With support, research and maintenance from the UBC Okanagan Gallery, our outdoor collection engages the public and showcases our art collection. These outdoor artworks tell the story of the relationship between UBC and the Okanagan, and are part of our commitment to bring art into everyday life.
For Future Matriarchs
This memorial sculpture was created by an internationally recognized Syilx artist Krista-Belle Stewart and Secwépemc artist Tania Willard. This 14 Not Forgotten Memorial commemorates the École Polytechnique tragedy and also honours the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, including LGBTQ and Two Spirit people. This fire bowl uses symbolic design elements including the blue flag iris which is the floral emblem of Quebec, traditional plants for Syilx people and Interior Salish basketry aesthetics.
This piece was funded by the School of Engineering.
Campus location: EME amphitheater
Story Poles
sn̓ilíʔtn, a permanent installation by Syilx artist Les Louis and co-funded by the ONA and UBC, was erected in September of 2016 in the central courtyard on campus to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of UBC Okanagan and the UBC Centennial.
Campus location: Arts Commons
Pair of Deer
Two bronze deer grace the grounds of UBC’s Okanagan campus, a gift that will forever stand as a legacy to former undergraduate student River Sidley. River died suddenly in 2014 and received a posthumous Bachelor of Science degree in June 2015. The deer were installed into the university’s courtyard in June of 2017.
Campus location: Arts Commons
A Decomposition
Byron Johnston, emeritus associate professor visual arts, donated one of his works, A Decomposition, to the university in 2010. The sculpture was erected between the Arts and Sciences buildings and features a variety of materials in stages of decomposition. A Decomposition invites people to look through a peephole at solitary details of adjacent, natural elements.
Campus location: Between the Arts and Science building
Toy Amenity
Mowry Baden tries to provoke a perceptual crisis that assaults the viewer’s confidence in the information that comes through the senses. His practice has always involved materials, just like any artist who makes objects. Ideally, however, he is less interested in the object than in the experience. He wants the viewer to enter the object (or the space) and have an experience that is visceral, internal, and sensorially cross-circuited.
Campus location: Creative & Critical Studies building
