SCULPTORS | Gerhard Class :: George Cunningham Memorial Sundial, 1967

Public Art Registry

George Cunningham Memorial Sundial

Sundial (VanDusen)

Description of Work:

A classic bronze sundial sits on top of a 4’5″ high rectangular granite pedestal engraved with abstract modernist geometric designs. A second edition of the sundial was commissioned for the VanDusen Gardens around 1972.

Artist Statement:

Erected under the auspices of the Centennial Committee of Vancouver in cooperation with the Parks Board, the sculpture was presented to the City by Cunningham Drug Stores Ltd. whose first store was opened at Denman and Nelson Streets in 1911. The inscription reads, ” I mark my hours by shadow, mayest thou mark thine by sunshine.” The sundial commemorates three English “greenhorns” – Samual Brighouse, John Morton, and William Hailstone who in 1862 filed the first land claim and planned the first home and industry in the then heavily wooded area now bounded by Burrard Inlet, Stanley Park, English Bay and Burrard Street to which they received title in 1867.

Neighbourhood: West End

Site name: English Bay

Address: Beach Avenue & Denman Street

Location on site: in centre of public seating area

Source/Program: Gift

Installed: 1967

Primary Materials: bronze, stone, granite

Type: Sculpture

Status: Existing

Ownership: City of Vancouver

Gerhard Class

City and Country of Residence: West Vancouver Canada
Biography:
Class was the son of a master sculptor. He came to Canada in 1951. He was one of the organizers of the International Sculpture Symposium at VanDusen Botanical Gardens in 1975. Class worked mainly in stone and steel and his work is in collections in Canada and Europe. He taught evening classes at the Vancouver School of Art from 1967 and was art director and graphic designer for the Plywood Manufacturers’ Association of BC. He died in 1997.
Artist’s Website:
Other Public Artworks:
sculpture, Centennial Museum, Victoria Elizabeth

Name	Artist(s)	Year	Neighbourhood	Program
Queen Plaza Centennial Fountain	Gerhard Class	1971	Downtown	Gift
Horizons	Gerhard Class	1970	Sunset
Tuning Fork	Gerhard Class	1968	University of British Columbia	Gift
George Cunningham Memorial Sundial	Gerhard Class	1967	West End	Gift
Province Newspaper Memorial	Gerhard Class	1967	Downtown	Gift
Hastings Mill Commemorative	Gerhard Class	1966	Downtown
Untitled	Gerhard Class	1964	Downtown
Configuration	Gerhard Class	1958	University of British Columbia
Sundial	Gerhard Class		Shaughnessy	Gift