Painting on a Park Bench

For years Vancouverites pushed for memorial benches. Then one day, voila! -- benches with bronze plaques honouring past lives. One of my favourite walks is to read these plaques, then to sit down and take in the view.

Yesterday I heard the story of a memorial bench removed by the City because the partner of the person it is dedicated to had painted it. How sad, I thought. She meant no harm. But when asked if I thought the City was right to remove it, I agreed that it was -- regardless of what I thought of its painting.

The City of Vancouver's memorial benches are nicely designed structures well-situated in public space. For me, it is never the bench so much as the view it affords, what it feels like to lean into one, my back supported by its unvarnished wooden slats.

Vancouver's obsession with painting itself is often justified by the city's grey and rainy weather -- benches that look "dead and forgotten," according to the artist whose partner's bench was removed. I for one see nothing wrong with settling into that which is "dead" to watch a sunset. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen is a sunrise touching one of these benches -- and bringing it to life!