The City of Saskatoon is defending spending almost $300,000 on rock sculptures made from plastic. The city paid $297,490 for the three rocks, located at the Forestry Farm, Diefenbaker Park and the landfill. Celene Anger, the city’s general manager of community services, said the project remained within the $310,000 budget allocated for public art. Gage Haubrich, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, calls the artwork a waste of money. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for large plastic rocks,” Haubrich told CTV News. “It’s ridiculous that anyone at city hall thought this was a good idea.” The cost is equivalent to the annual municipal property taxes paid by about 118 average Saskatoon homeowners. “So 118 families, their entire property tax bills went to building large plastic rocks instead of providing services that people want in the city,” Haubrich said. Sculptures created by Calgary artists The rocks were created by Calgary-based artist duo Sans Façon. The sculptures were modelled after rocks carried across the prairies by ancient ice sheets. Each rock is made from a different plastic—grain bags, bottle caps and garbage bins. According to the city, more than 10,000 pounds of plastic was processed to create the artwork. The artists say it’s meant to get people thinking about plastic waste and recycling. Councillor wants less spending on public art City council approved $310,000 for public art when it gave the green light to an adjustment to the Material Recovery Centre capital budget in June 2021. Councillors did not select the specific artwork. Sans Façon was selected by the city’s public art advisory committee. “I think the frustration and the response that we’re getting from the community is valid,” Coun. Randy Donauer said. “I’ve expressed my concern about the amount that this capital art program allocates, and I would like to see the percentage coming down.” Donauer said he plans to bring forward a motion to review how much money is allocated to public art at the next council meeting Aug. 26
