Of Course Ships Have Spirits

This is another one of my favourite pieces in the City of Ottawa's art collection.  It's a playful work which I often pass by when I'm at City Hall attending to less than playful matters.

It was made by Alex Wyse in 1984 and is called "Of Course Ships Have Spirits".  It stands at eye level and is about 1.2 m long.  There are snippets of text on the rainbow at the centre of the ship "Sailboat sail avoid that gale" on the front and "And so many were to find their graves" on the backside.

Seagulls populate the sides complete with cartoon-like speech bubbles capturing their conversations.... " "I enjoy a somewhat independent lifestyle", "Gosh I saw a good documentary on flight", "Oh you caught that too", "The forecast is for a trough of low pressure", "I don't trust the radio".

Now you know what all the noise is about when you hear a flock of gulls.