Instead of showcasing his creations in a gallery space, Vahe Tokmajyan is bringing his art to a number of Calgary communities this summer. Tokmajyan came up with the idea after he saw people reacting to one of his public art pieces on 17th Avenue S.E. called Dance. “It was installed on International Avenue in Unity Park in 2021 and its since become an icon for the local communities,” he said. “That’s when I thought, ‘Oh, I should use this idea and take (my) sculptures to the different communities’ and I’m happy that Calgary Arts Development supported that idea.” Tokmajyan grew up in Armenia where his father and brother are also sculptors. He’s called Calgary home for 20 years and travels the world representing Canada at various sculpture symposiums. He says they come with a short time line to finish a sculpture so he makes sure to map out a timeline to finish it. “Being selected is already being rewarded,” he said. “It’s a big responsibility because you have to do it in a shorter time so in a limited time, 10 days, 15 days and you should know what you should do every day to complete the sculpture.” Tokmajyan has his sculptures on display all over the world. His most recent trip was to La Bresse, France. “The sculpture symposium came with given topic Upside Down World, and I came up with an idea of upside down logic,” he said. “It’s a person carrying a donkey instead of sitting a donkey and immediately it kind of shows the reverse logic.” The artist says he’s always interested in hearing from people what they see in his art and the emotions surrounding it. “I like when people are inspired from the ideas and they see something more than I even thought about,” he said. “Somebody looked at my work with a raven and he said, ‘This is not a fun sculpture, I can see sadness inside’ and ‘I said I’m so glad that it triggers interesting feelings in you’ and you probably can’t explain it right away, but you sense it so that’s my goal.” One of Tokmajyan’s largest pieces is made out of close to 2,000 kilograms of British Columbia marble and represents the four elements; earth, wind, fire and water. “I just learned recently that First Nations have the same concept,” he said. “They call the rock, the fire, the air and water and that’s exactly what I’m conveying, we have this in Armenian culture and many other cultures have the four elements of life.” He’s hopeful the piece will one day be installed as public art in Calgary. A friend from the University of Calgary thought it would look good on campus. “He said why don’t you just install it at the university because it’s a great piece, I said well, there is a process so everything needs to go through the process,” he laughed. Tokmajyan has two more shows where he’s bringing his art to Calgary communities and the next show is at the Calgary Central Library for the entire month of October. Learn more about the artist here online at https://www.vahetokmajyansculpture.com/.
