{"id":223018,"date":"2026-01-02T06:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223018\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T06:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:59:17","slug":"artists-lament-raven-sculpture-and-its-baby-destroyed-at-esquimalt-lagoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223018\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist\u2019s lament: Raven sculpture and its baby destroyed at Esquimalt Lagoon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>              Artist\u2019s lament: Raven sculpture and its baby destroyed at Esquimalt Lagoon<\/p>\n<p class=\"pubStamp\">Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, December 31, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Artist Paul Lewis is pretty accustomed to vandals ripping apart his hard work. In the face of finding one of his first Esquimalt Lagoon pieces destroyed, with parts discarded across the beach and parking lot, ahead of the holidays, the driftwood sculptor sees opportunity. <\/p>\n<p>A raven and its chick perched in a giant nest stood the test of time at the Colwood beach. Going up in May 2018, they were his longest standing work. But, being among his first sculptures to grace the space, Lewis is excited to replace it with his new, more refined work. <\/p>\n<p>A few days before Christmas while having a coffee at the beach with his wife, the couple noticed the big raven missing entirely, and the little one missing a wing. After a look around, he found body parts scattered. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s not a chance in hell that was the wind,\u201d Lewis said of the damage. \u201cSomebody smashed this thing apart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>READ ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/goldstreamgazette.com\/2024\/10\/24\/driftwood-artist-explores-tech-solution-to-stolen-colwood-sculptures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Driftwood artist explores tech solution to stolen Colwood sculptures<\/a><\/p>\n<p>READ ALSO:<a href=\"https:\/\/goldstreamgazette.com\/2018\/05\/23\/lagoon-artist-crafts-work-for-juvenile-diabetes-research-foundation-fundraiser\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Lagoon artist crafts work for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation fundraiser<\/a><\/p>\n<p>About 10 of his works dot the public beach, with a number as high as 20 at times. It\u2019s not unusual for them to be broken or stolen, and it\u2019s always disheartening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe good thing is I get to create something new. That was the third one I ever did so it was like kindergarten,\u201d Lewis told the Goldstream Gazette. \u201cWhatever I put there it\u2019s got to be something big \u2026 it\u2019s going to be my new style and way better.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Those days he\u2019d create something in five hours, now his more detailed sculptures can take up to four days. <\/p>\n<p>An octopus is already underway for the public realm, and a recently completed barred owl is headed for his uncle\u2019s place in Florida. <\/p>\n<p>The Colwood community, and visitors, seem to care for the wooden critters living at the Esquimalt Lagoon. Each time the driftwood displays, sculptures of birds, fish and more are damaged or stolen, they come through to help the artists recoup, recover and rebuild. <\/p>\n<p>Most recently, a barred owl disappeared from the shoreline, one that had seen many attempted thefts already, Lewis said. Many of the sculptures are now equipped with trackers, but the artist has a simpler message for those looking to lift or destroy a piece of art. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not hurting me at all, you\u2019re hurting the public and the community because they\u2019re so loved.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artist\u2019s lament: Raven sculpture and its baby destroyed at Esquimalt Lagoon Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, December 31, 2025&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,2476,308,93,115120,61,60,115121],"class_list":{"0":"post-223018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-breaking-news","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-esquimalt-lagoon","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-west-shore"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}