B.C. artist preferred anonymity to celebrity, opposed 'cult of personality' even as his untitled works developed cult-like admiration
By Tom Hawthorn, Victoria

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The crab rises from a pool, pincers raised overhead, a magnificent six-metre-tall sculpture rendered in stainless steel. For 45 years, the gleaming decapod crustacean has guarded the entrance to what is now the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in a park on the Vancouver waterfront.

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Designed by George Norris, who has died at 84, the crab is a work of public art that has won the approval of the public as well as art critics.

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The Norris crab, located in a fountain, is among the most photographed works of art in British Columbia, beloved by tourists and schoolchildren. Yet it is more widely known than its creator. Norris preferred anonymity, disdaining the “cult of personality” in the art world, often leaving his works unsigned and unnamed to preserve viewer interpretation.

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Despite this, some pieces received nicknames, such as the “Prairie Chicken” at the University of Calgary. Others were misunderstood; a part of one sculpture in downtown Vancouver was mistakenly destroyed as scrap metal.

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Born on Christmas Eve in 1928 in Victoria, Norris was encouraged from an early age to pursue art. He studied at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University) and Syracuse University under Ivan Mestrovic, later assisting him. A British Council scholarship took him to the Slade School of Fine Art in London, after which he toured European museums before returning to Canada.

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Among his early public works was Mother and Child, a bronze sculpture intended for UBC’s Education Building. The university hosts several other Norris works, including Man About to Plant or Pick Alfalfa, a granite memorial.

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By Canada’s 1967 centennial, Norris was a leading artist in Vancouver. His works included Stations of the Cross figures in stained glass, a piece for the Pacific Press building, and a 29-metre frieze for a post office in Kitsilano. For the MacMillan Space Centre, he was commissioned to create the stainless-steel crab sculpture, inspired by Haida legend. Funded in part by women’s groups who held “crab bruncheons,” it was installed just before the building’s 1968 opening and was instantly popular.

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Another major work, an untitled 13.4-metre abstract pinwheel sculpture, was erected in 1974 at Pacific Centre Plaza. When it was later removed and partially mistaken for scrap metal, Norris was disheartened, famously saying, “Vancouver chews us up and spits us out.”

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Despite wide public exposure, Norris remained little known. His other Vancouver works include The Swimmer at the Aquatic Centre, a jade sculpture at VanDusen Botanical Garden, and various metal and brick installations at UBC and in North Vancouver. He also crafted wooden doors and lecterns for community spaces in B.C.

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In Victoria, his hometown, he created prominent works for the University of Victoria and the central branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library. A minimalist, early environmentalist, and rural advocate, he lived simply at Shawnigan Lake, raising animals and working various jobs before teaching art.

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He was married to Phyllis Piddington and had three children: Anna, Samuel, and Alexander (a Montreal city councillor). After a hiking fall, he and Phyllis returned to Victoria.

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George Norris died March 12, 2013, at Mount Edwards Court care home in Victoria. He was 84. Even in retirement, he continued making art, such as the carved lintels at the Shawnigan Lake Community Centre featuring the faces of friends and neighbours.

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