Animal Family

There’s nothing like a child’s excitement of seeing her favourite animal for the first time, when the idea of a fluffy round object becomes a full size, living and breathing sheep in front of her eyes. Animal Family is a colourful and playful public art wall sculpture that invites discovery and interaction while providing a prelude for children’s and adults’ visit as guests into the animals’ home. 

The composition of Animal Family references the origins of the Edmonton Valley Zoo, drawing on the much loved Storyland Zoo for inspiration. The storybook form of the piece sustains a continuity that celebrates and honours the foundational values of the Zoo and helps carry these aspirations through the ambitious contemporary development of Nature’s Wild Backyard. 

The variety of profiles and colours of the Animal Family panels can be read as a story, one that expresses both the diversity of the different shapes and sizes of the animals and emphasizes the unity of their shared habitat and environment. How does a chicken play with a pig? How does a goat say good morning to a cow? Tails flick, heads dip, chicks appear and disappear as the poses and positions come to life through the flipping of the movable panels, an action that can be carried out by children or assisted by adults, as when reading a storybook together at home.