The Studio West Bronze Foundry and Art Gallery is one of the best-kept secrets in Cochrane, which is strange considering the amount of national recognition that husband and wife duo Don Begg and Shirley Stephens-Begg have received over the years.
After being responsible for sculpting 85 monuments across Canada, the Beggs were recently short-listed to build a monument to the oldest professional sports trophy in North America: the Stanley Cup.
“We received an invitation to submit a proposal,” Stephens-Begg said. “There were 40 teams that submitted their qualifications and a committee chose eight. We were one of the lucky ones.”
After having visited the site last week where the sculpture will go – in central Ottawa across from Confederation Square – the Beggs now have three-and-a-half months to submit their project proposal for Lord Stanley’s Gift monument, which will stand in the allocated 10m by 10m by six-metre space and is slated to be unveiled in December 2017.
“It’s quite the occasion,” Stephens-Begg said of the event. “It’s the 25th anniversary of the Ottawa Senators, the 100th anniversary of the NHL, the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup, and the 150th anniversary of the confederation of Canada.
“It’s very special.”
The Beggs – who are avid hockey fans – have worked on multiple historical-related sculptures before such as the, “Egg Money” monument situated at Centennial Plaza in town and the, “National RCMP Memorial” at RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa among many others.
It’s only fitting a tribute to Lord Stanley of Preston creating the Stanley Cup in 1892 would be right up their alley.
They’ve been commissioned to do dozens of bronzes of war heroes, politicians, and community figures, and if they win, being commissioned for a bronze of Canada’s favourite cup would round out their portfolio of work despite having previously worked on a hockey monument, the iconic Wayne Gretzky statue – sculpted by the late Montana-born artist John Weaver – that stood outside Rexall Place in Edmonton.
“We’ve been doing this for 46 years,” Stephens-Begg said. “How many people can work their entire lives and create something that can last for centuries after they’re gone?”
Is that notion of remembrance something that drives Stephens-Begg who is 73 and her husband who is in his late 60s to continue on despite having nothing to prove?
“It influences us,” she confirmed. “We’ve been told by clients that we create history by doing it absolutely accurately.
“My father was a sculptor, and he said whenever you’re completing work make sure you do the very best you possibly can because it will be here a long time after you’re around to make excuses for it.”
