Saint Albert the Great will stand in the city once again, although this time, it will be indoors to prevent damage and theft.
On Tuesday, Oct. 1, city councillors discussed whether to spend $30,000 to replace the original statue, which was stolen from its downtown outdoor location in March 2023.
A smaller version of the statue made by the original artist, Al Henderson, will be placed inside St. Albert Place to make him harder to steal. The Patron Saint of Education and Learning should find a comfortable home in the building that also hosts the St. Albert Public Library, according to Arts Advisory Committee chair Emily Blake.
Appearing virtually, Coun. Natalie Joly pulled for discussion Saint Albert from the consent agenda, a group of typically routine items voted on together for swift approval. She asked administrators whether there was any risk the subject of the statue was not worthy of literally being placed on a pedestal.
“I didn’t know it was the Patron Saint of Education,” she said. “So this historical figure, we’re not worried that they did bad things that are going to come up in 10 years and we’re going to have to be talking about it at council again?”
Blake is not aware of any such transgressions worthy of decapitation or down-pulling. The prevailing wisdom on the disappearance of the first statue is that it was motivated by the value of the bronze he was cast in.
“I think the community loved how kind of young the statue was, I think it sort of engendered a sense of care, which was why they were so upset when he went missing in the first place,” she said.
Blake said she’s excited to see Saint Albert (the statue) join some of the other works on display at St. Albert Place (the place).
Mayor Cathy Heron is not.
“I’m not super excited about the location; I get the reasoning and fear of theft, but is there going to be a plan moving forward that all art is placed inside buildings, especially city hall? I feel like that theft has left us too scared to do anything outside. I don’t want to avoid having public art in outdoor gathering spaces.”
Andrea Bowes, Visual Arts program assistant, said Saint Albert’s smaller size was a concern, and his former location on Perron Street was not conducive to avoiding a repeat.
“We aren’t shying away from putting art in public places at all,” she said, also appearing via video. “It’s just that we have to be very careful about what that location is. What kind of security we have around it, how is it placed relative to people, how secure is it [placed]?
“If we do it right away, the place we could conceive was St. Albert Place.”
Coun. Shelley Biermanski thanked Blake and her colleagues on the Arts Advisory Committee for their work on the replacement project.
“The committee was thorough beyond being thorough,” she said. “There’s a lot of great intent and work and respect to everything the community put into this, and again I commend Emily (who has) been on the committee for a long time, and there are a lot of really, really passionate people on the Arts committee and they’re the best, in my opinion.”
Council voted 7-0 to commission the new statue for St. Albert Place.
Cash for art for kids
Council also voted 7-0 to approve a request from the Arts Advisory Committee for $12,000 to contract an artist for the International Children’s Festival of the Arts 2025. That includes the artist’s $8,000 fee, $1,000 for travel and up to five days’ accommodation, $350 for a per diem for meals, $2,000 for materials and a $650 contingency.
Coun. Natalie Joly asked that the annual request be included in the municipal budget to avoid council having to vote it through every year.
Staff said that’s fine going forward, but they needed the money for the 2025 festival now to contract the artist and get them working on their project for the May event.
