The campaign to bring the dude back to Dude Chilling Park continues with an online fundraiser.
Michael Dennis’s reclining figure sculpture, which has been a fixture at Vancouver’s Guelph Park since the early 1990s, has been repaired and is currently waiting to be cast in bronze. A fundraising campaign is under way to raise the money needed to cover the cost of the project. Photo courtesy Michael Dennis
Vancouver Art House Society recently announced its Indiegogo campaign — Dude Chilling Park: Return of The Dude. It’s aiming to raise $20,000 by May 7 to help restore and return The Dude to its rightful resting place in the park.
“The hope is that we might have ‘The Dude’ bronzed and chilling in the sun by late summer of this year and we can all celebrate with a Community Picnic,” reads a press release.
The natural cedar sculpture of a reclining figure was left at the park in 1991 by B.C. artist Michael Dennis.
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Over the ensuing quarter century the sculpture, officially named Reclining Figure, became a mainstay of Guelph Park. But in recent years, the wood started to deteriorate. Dennis, working with Vancouver Park Board, removed the figure and took it back to his studio on Denman Island.
It’s been restored to its original form and the society is raising funds to cover the cost of casting the figure in bronze, transporting it to Vancouver and installing it back in Dude Chilling Park.
