These unusual looking creatures outside Metro Hall on Wellington Street West were created by Toronto artist Cynthia Short. Completed in 1992, Remembered Sustenance contains 19 bronze sculptures in total.
The inspiration for Remembered Sustenance is drawn from the location of the sculpture’s site. Adjacent to the outdoor Metro Hall daycare playground, the work has been created to convey the sense of playfulness and whimsy associated with children’s stories and games. This group of bronze, non-specific cartoonish animals appear to be migrating across the lawn, towards, then away from a curtain drawn by two birds (at left in shot below). Below the curtain, a plate set in the ground holds a negative impression of the shape of a small ballerina that might be found in a child’s music box (this might have been visible in the shots if there hadn’t been so much junk on the ground that day!).
The various elements found in the artwork represent the remembered experiences of childhood that the artist suggests can sustain us throughout our lives. Open and abundant with possibility of meaning, it is the artist’s stated intention that the work should most of all be enjoyed by children.
Cynthia Short is an artist working in Toronto. For the past several years she has been working on small sculptures using materials such as wax, soil, and paper mache. She remarks: I try to make things that have a quality of something remembered or recognized. I hope that my images grow from a place that we all have inside.
I’ve always loved these creature-rabbit-not-rabbit things and I have brought people to see them. Public art at its best.
Yes Bob you brought Me and Rick there and I have pictures to prove it. Yes they are wonderful and you must sit on one just like a child.