Artistry of Hope in Oak Bay
By Ivan Watson
M’akhotso Mother of Peace, by Linda Lindsay, represents respect for the courage of newcomers. (Neil Dickie)
Article originally published in Tweed Magazine
A meandering walk through Oak Bay’s parks and public spaces reveals many gems of our shared cultural and natural heritage. Among them, two additions to Oak Bay’s public art collection in recent years have captivated residents and visitors alike with their beauty, artistry and universal message of human connection. Lovingly created by Oak Bay artist Linda Lindsay, the sculptures M’akhotso, Mother of Peace in front of the Oak Bay Library, and Winds of Time at the King George Terrace lookout inspire people to gather in the spirit of togetherness. They invite hopeful reflection on what makes a community peaceful, vibrant and welcoming.
Born in California, Lindsay grew up in an extended family of talented painters, poets and musicians.
“My mum would sit and sketch these beautiful women with flowing dresses and long gloves,” she recalls. “She worked long hours, but she always made time to paint in the evening. That inspired me because it sent a very strong message that the arts were important.”
Her childhood home was surrounded by fields and orange groves, and her first sculptures emerged from the mud around her. “I spent a lot of time as a child digging clay, and I started by making silly little things like pieces of furniture and selling them for two cents each,” she recalls.
Following her passion, Lindsay earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts and teaching credentials from California State University and taught high school and community college before marrying the love of her life and moving to Canada—and Oak Bay—in 1993. She and her husband raised a family, and Lindsay established herself as a dynamic force in the local arts community, crafting beautiful sculptures in her garden studio and as a teacher and mentor to adult artists of all ages.
In 2018, she entered her full-length figure—M’akhotso, Mother of Peace—in the Oak Bay Arts Alive competition, prompted by the event’s theme “Balancing Act.”
“My inspiration was a young woman from South Africa who became my model,” she says. “She was the most beautiful, expressive person, and I wanted to create something that honoured her through the sculpture Mbuto’s Hope and Dreams, which later inspired Mother of Peace. It represents people who come from all over the world, filled with hopes and dreams for the future, the ultimate balancing act, and how much they offer to society.”
Cast in bronze, three-quarters life-sized, hands clasped in quiet anticipation, and head held high, holding the earth above, M’akhotso captured the hearts and minds of the public with its respect for the courage of newcomers, who cross cultures and oceans for a better life.
“Immigrants have tremendous energy to succeed, and they work so hard, which in turn re-energizes our country,” she says.
The sculpture was loved by then Oak Bay mayor Nils Jensen, himself an immigrant from Denmark. After he passed away from cancer, the community rallied to raise funds to purchase the sculpture in his memory, and it was installed permanently in front of the library facing Monterey Avenue. In 2021, edition #2/12 of M’akhotso gained international acclaim during the National Sculpture Society’s 88th Annual Awards Exhibit in South Carolina, winning a prestigious award which qualified her to be exhibited in the society’s New York City gallery.
The vibrant, life-like qualities of Lindsay’s work reflect her passionate attention to detail. She infuses sculpture with a medical understanding of human anatomy and the science of kinesiology, crafting and recrafting each piece until every aspect is proportional and natural in form and movement. Large pieces can take hundreds, and sometimes thousands of hours of work. The costs of time, travel, materials and manufacture are essentially incalculable.
Conceived over ten months in 2019, Winds of Time was, like M’akhotos, designed with a message of hope in mind. “I wanted it to be a piece that tells the history of place, and to honour the Indigenous peoples and their traditions,” she says. “It represents the hoped-for coming together of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples with true appreciation for one another’s cultures, and a willingness to work together for a better future.”
The sculpture is composed of a large female figure with a knowing smile, rising confidently from the Salish Sea, personifying the universal spirit of place and the unstoppable forces of wind and time. To perfect the figurative details on its base, she studied the movement and interactions of pods of orcas, learned about traditional Coast Salish dugout canoe design from Indigenous artist Joshua Watts, and delved into the finite details of how sailboats interact with powerful ocean winds and waves.
Initially exhibited on Oak Bay Avenue for Arts Alive in 2019, the following year, a local family purchased Winds of Time and donated it to Oak Bay’s public art collection. It is situated permanently at the King George Terrace scenic lookout.
This fall, Lindsay participated in Oak Bay’s popular artist studio tour for the first time since the pandemic, opening the doors of her garden studio to the public. Visitors were treated to passionate presentations on her creative process and viewed exhibits of her latest works. That included Circle of Life, which depicts a doctor holding a newborn baby, and an elderly woman standing next to him admiring the miracle of life. It is a tribute to family doctors and their critical role in a healthy society.
“I want to highlight how incredibly important family doctors are; without them, we have no longitudinal care,” she says. “There are so many people now without one and I think our family physicians are our unsung heroes.”
Lindsay hopes that one day Circle of Life will find a permanent public home, perhaps in a garden next to a hospital or in front of a medical school.
Lindsay continues to be inspired by the public’s appreciation of her work and, on most days, is hard at work in her garden studio, crafting multiple pieces at once.
“I love Oak Bay and being a part of the community is very important to me. It’s wonderful when people tell me that my work has meant something to them, that it has touched their hearts,” she says. “People email me with photos they have taken of my sculptures while out for a walk, and sometimes they send poetry that they were inspired to write. I hope to create for many years to come, and that people will continue to appreciate my sculptures and their messages of hope and togetherness.”