Commemorative statue of Armine Nutting Gosling

Did you know that in the entirety of Newfoundland and Labrador there are only TWO statues of named women: Shawniditit in Boyd’s Cove and Ameila Earhart in Harbour Grace; there are none in our capital city of St. John’s.

As a leader of the suffrage movement in St. John’s, founder of the Ladies Reading Room, and wife of William Gosling, the mayor of the St. John’s who led the charter change in 1921, Armine Nutting Gosling is an ideal choice to be immortalized as the first statue of a named woman in St. John’s.

The vision is for a life-sized statue in bronze, located in Bannerman Park. It is scheduled to "break ground" in 2021, with erection in early 2022.

Artist Sheila Coultas and the Newfoundland Bronze Foundry have been awarded the commission.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Shelia T. Coultas

This wild, sometimes maddeningly slow-paced, and irresistibly beautiful province of Newfoundland and Labrador, is the only place Sheila has been where she can paint. The creative process only seems to be alive for her here. Perhaps that’s because she was born and raised here, in a family with a real sense of artistry (whether musical or visual), and here is where the most important people in her life are. For better or worse, this is her home.

While art and the work of other artists have been a source of inspiration and visual pleasure, her greatest artistic influence has been Gerald Squires, who informally, was always something of a mentor. And though no longer present, whose work continues to inspire.  

Parenthood will dot art making years with periods of inactivity, however, Sheila has been making art and guiding others in designing their work, for a couple of decades. Sheila’s background and repertoire of skills include work with textiles and fiber, and paintings usually combined with textiles or metal work, or both.

In recent years, Sheila has been working to further develop her skills, and on refining specific ideas and techniques. She has made realistic portrayals of people, more whimsical and abstract work designed around collected pieces of bronze, and most recently painting with red ochre, charcoal, and other powdered pigments on birch bark, with a special interest in the pigments that minerals and plants can provide.

Sheila is currently working as foundry technician, welder, and metal- worker at The Newfoundland Bronze Foundry with Morgan MacDonald. The result of that artistic collaboration is evident in her work presented in “Be.o.thuk”.

(L-R: Sylina Jones, Jenn Deon, Cara Winsor-Hehir, Shelia Coultas)

Morgan MacDonald & The Newfoundland Bronze Factory

With over 20 years of experience Morgan MacDonald is well known in Atlantic Canada for creating numerous iconic works of public art. Focusing mainly on permanent bronze sculpture his artistic career was influenced at an early age through his visits to Florence, Rome, Milan and Paris. His artistic practice was deeply affected seeing the historic works of the great European masters in person, particularly an extensive once in a lifetime exhibit of the works of Auguste Rodin.

He studied at the School of Fine Arts at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Book, where he was introduced to the ancient practice of lost-wax bronze casting. After his studies in Fine Arts he embarked on completing a Business degree. It was during this time that Morgan was also engaged in a focused three years of study as an apprentice to a master European sculptor in a fine art bronze foundry atelier. His first commissioned work, at age 24, was the now iconic Rower, installed for the public on the shore of Quidi Vidi Lake.

MacDonald quickly became a renowned artist working in bronze with many works depicting Newfoundland Culture, the military and police including the RCMP Memorial (Moncton), the Danger Tree (Corner Brook), Sergeant Gander (Gander), 100 Portraits of the Great War (Victoria Park) Sealers Statue in Elliston. Creating and casting in his own foundry since 2008, Newfoundland Bronze Foundry has grown to be the largest in eastern Canada.

Check out their website: www.newfoundlandbronze.ca