Whale Family Bench

by Simon Daniel James

Beginning in August 2021, Simon Daniel James worked on-site to transform a 6ft cedar log into a public seating structure. The piece was part of a carving residency that commissioned the construction and installation of 3 seating benches from donated cedar logs.

Over the course of the bench’s completion, Simon hosted open studio hours and artist talks with classes from Britannia Secondary School. The project also engaged youth Indigenous artists Stormy Gray and Matthew Laing from Red Fox Healthy Living Society by providing hands on art assistant opportunities. The conversations and collaborations that came out of these engagements all contributed to the vision and design of Simon’s final piece.
In addition to utilizing the donated timber, Simon’s bench features a painted orca backboard carved from ancient growth cedar that he completed at his home studio on Bowen Island. The seat of the bench is also decorated with wood burned illustrations of salmon. His decision to depict these specific marine creatures speaks to Britannia’s intergenerational community, and their diverse journeys that led them to arrive here together.

The bench is now installed in the Britannia Plaza in proximity to the library to allow it to function as a space for families to gather and share stories.

Artist Statment

“In 2021, I was asked to carve a cedar log into a bench for Britannia Centre. At this time the whole world was under lockdown due to the pandemic, but I took this to be a sign of better things to come. I remember meeting outdoors with Britannia staff and discussing what it was that we were to accomplish and I set to work immediately. What I designed was a ‘family bench,’ with the idea of family represented by the whale design.

I asked my apprentice Jay Peachy to assist in its completion. I carved the backboard using old growth cedar, and Jay Peachy did wood burning on the log supplied to us by Britannia. The salmon and whales swimming around the log are the support for the whale backboard. Jay Peachy also brought some students to help us in this process of creation—a big family helped in this creation.

The ‘Whale Family Bench’ was created through a pandemic and a very cold winter and I am proud to have been a part of this amazing experience. We have added those involved in the creation of this bench, including the staff at Britannia, to the meaning of this family bench.”