{"id":860144,"date":"2026-08-16T12:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/860144\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T12:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:18:11","slug":"qa-meet-the-artist-behind-a-new-sculpture-installed-in-a-st-thomas-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/860144\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Meet the artist behind a new sculpture installed in a St. Thomas park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

If you’re driving around St. Thomas, a new massive and colourful display might catch your eye. <\/p>\n

The city has installed a new 25-foot, 10,000lb sculpture at the gateway to Yarmouth Yards, its new industrial park. <\/p>\n

Unveiled to the public on Thursday, the Imagination Station structure draws on St. Thomas’ identity as Canada’s Railway City.<\/p>\n

Briony Douglas is the Toronto-based artist behind the piece. She shared her inspiration for the structure and what she hopes the public can take away from it with guest host Nav Nanwa on CBC Radio’s Afternoon Drive. <\/p>\n

The following has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

Nav Nanwa: What will people see when they visit the Imagination Station? <\/p>\n

Briony Douglas: The reason and the idea behind Imagination Station is to spark hope, creativity and just joy. And a lot of my artwork is very colourful, bright and meant to bring you back to a nostalgic place of happiness. <\/p>\n

So what I’ve designed, essentially, is something that brought me joy from my childhood, which is a toy wooden train.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Imagination Station is a 25-foot tall, 10,000 lb sculpture installed at St. Thomas’ Gateway to gateway to Yarmouth Yards, the city’s new industrial park. It was unveiled to the public on Aug. 13. (City of St. Thomas\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

NN: It’s very impressive. How long this take you?<\/p>\n

BD: We were brought onto the project about a year ago. As I’m sure you know, there [was] a lot of back and forth between the city. I came to them with this idea and they said yes. From there it just kind of took off. It’s really cool to see the juxtaposition of something that is very whimsical and colourful, with what is kind of an industrial area. So I love that there’s this pop of colour [that] can be the reason someone smiles in their day. <\/p>\n

LISTEN | Artist behind St. Thomas’ Imagination Station describes her inspiration:<\/p>\n

Afternoon Drive4:37Imagination Station sculpture unveiled in St. Thomas<\/p>\n

A new piece of public art has been installed in St. Thomas, called the Imagination Station. The artist behind it, Briony Douglas, joins Afternoon Drive to explain the inspiration behind the piece.<\/p>\n

NN: And you’re no stranger to these kinds of monuments. Do you want to tell us how you got started doing this work? <\/p>\n

BD: Now this is, I will say, my first ever permanent public sculpture, so I’m a bit on cloud nine right now, a little tired, but I’m so honored to have done it. I do build a lot of big sculptures. It’s kind of what I’m known for. I’ve built 12-foot tall pink cowboy boots for Boots and Hearts, lots of different stuff.<\/p>\n

The thing that actually got me noticed by the city was ,I built a sculpture for the PWHL that was sponsored by Royale and that was called the Inaugural 6. That was a giant hockey helmet. It was about 8-feet long, made out of the six original women’s teams’s hockey sticks. So that was really cool and that now lives in the Hockey Hall of Fame. <\/p>\n

That got a lot of press. [The city] saw that and were like, “Hey you do big sculptures?” and I said “Why yes I do,” and the rest was history. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe large and colourful Imagination Station structure draws on St. Thomas’ identity as Canada’s Railway City. (City of St. Thomas\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

NN: What kind of reaction did you get from the unveiling that took place Thursday afternoon?<\/p>\n

BD: Everybody’s so happy and at the end of the day, as someone that can struggle with mental health, the idea that you can be the reason someone else feels good is the main driving reason behind my artwork, right? <\/p>\n

The mayor came by and he was really excited and we did a big unveiling with giant scissors and everyone cheered.<\/p>\n

I think the most rewarding thing as an artist for me will always be a child’s reaction, right? They’re unfiltered. If they don’t like it, they’re going to say it and if they do like it, they’re going to love it. <\/p>\n

There’s just something so pure about kids reacting. That also has a lot to do with my artwork too. I don’t think because you grow older that whimsical has to leave you. You should still find that joy in the day-to-day and that’s come through my artwork a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-860144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}