Corgi Forums

Michael Romanos · **Corgi sculptures -** 08-10-2006, 03:05 AM

Caught a glimpse on the local (New Zealand) news section of national TV, several Pembroke Corgi sculptures that were sited in the main square of the CBD of NZ's third major city, Christchurch. The Corgis were lifesize and possibly made of bronze. They were displayed for a couple of weeks at the time of the British Queen's birthday (80th) which was quite recently.

I wonder if they have a monument in honour of the Corgi in Wales. There is a town in NZ which has a statue of a typical NZ working farm dog - which is a Border Collie cross and a special fountain in Wellington depicting the head of Paddy, a famous dog that lived in the 1920s around Wellington's harbour and was taken care of by the wharf workers and seamen and went on voyages and was given special recognition by the local Government.

Jespah · 05:57 PM

I had a friend who went to Wales recently and adores Corgis and saw neither a sculpture or a real Corgi for that matter and was very disappointed.

I had custom carvings done of Riley and Rupert. A gentleman in Oregon and his wife create them. He carves them with a chainsaw out of wood reclaimed from fallen trees in the forest and she paints them. I sent them photos of my two from all angles and they made these for me. I love them - specially now as Riley is gone I will always have this three dimensional image of her.

glencorgi · 08-10-2006, 06:51 AM

From all reports of corgi folks who have visited Wales since I've had corgis, the one thing they don't see when they visit is corgis or even corgi related items. One of my adoptive families visited there this summer and sent me a post card from Pembroke - not a corgi sighting their entire visit.

Debbie

corgimom · 08-10-2006, 07:01 AM

Deb,

Those are absolutely wonderful. I would love one of those for my front porch!!!

Linda

CorgiMum · 10:56 AM

Those carving are beautiful! We are aboout 5 hours from Oregon, I'd love to have your contact.

Gary and I have always wanted a weather vane, and I iust happend to have found one.

http://www.pembrokewelshcorgis.ca/corgicupboard.htm

Jespah · 05:57 PM

For those who are interested, the people who carved the Corgis for me are at the Dog Bark Park and Inn - the world's largest Beagle bed and breakfast. From their home page click on "Purchase Art" - you can tell them you heard about them from Deb in Toronto with the two Corgis - as you can see they were so real Tucker thought we had another dog!

http://www.dogbarkparkinn.com/

Michael Romanos · 12:12 AM

I might get in touch with the Christchurch City Council and see what became of the Corgi sculptures and who owns them.

Britain is full of monuments - well more so than NZ - so you would think that a national dog of Wales who may go back as far as 2000 years, as was the back bone of the farm working dog in Wales for many centuries - epecially when farming was the most important industry in Wales, would be permanently celebrated and honoured in some tangible way.

Corgis are a bit like small nations of people who have more descendents in other countries than in their own - such as the Irish. There are probably more Corgis n the USA per head of population than there are in Wales.

Deb of Canada has something relly unique in those full size carvings of her Pems. I have a very large framed black and white photo (20 inches by 24 inches) of My Pem Champion Ricky at age 8, which was taken in a studio in black and white and put on public display for six months. The photographer is perhaps NZ's most famous ( Ronald Woolf) and he died tragetically in a helicopter some years ago. His family have maintained his studio and his son, Simon is now one of NZ's best. The original photo of Ricky had deteriorated over time, so Simon gave me an exact replica. The original photo was presented to me free of charge and so was the replacement. I suppose if the photo was done today and framed it would cost over $1000

Jespah · 08-11-2006, 06:56 AM

I'm sure that you treasure that photo of Ricky, Michael, what a lovely momento to have of him - and done by a great photographer to boot!

Deb

Michael Romanos · 08-12-2006, 12:18 AM

Wello I actually didn't like looking at it for a number of years because it would tend to upset me. Also a professional artist did a large painting of Ricky in a field with sheep in the background since Corgis are working farm dogs. Ricky has a big glamorous smile on his face and I only recently undusted the painting and now plan to get it properly framed. It's a much younger version of Ricky than is the photo.

tandemgal · 07:06 PM

deleted by T-Gal

Michael Romanos · 08-21-2006, 02:41 AM

corgis on high.jpg

The Pembrioke Corgi sculptures in Christchurch City are a permanet public display within the main shopping centre of the city. The three Corgis are made of bronze and cost the City $24,000. They are life size and have created a lot of interest and intrigue. Children sit on them. They are regarded as unique and quirky. There is none other like them anywhere in the world. The Corgi in the front is carrying his collar in his mouth and the Corgi at the rear is sniffing at some object on the ground. The sculpter is a vet named David Marshall and as a vet in Christchurch, he would have got to see quite a lot of Corgis.

tandemgal · 08-21-2006, 06:13 AM

that is just tooo cool! what a great concept for the shopping center - am sure they are a great fun for the children to see and touch.

I am a big believer that children need to be exposed to art in a fun hands on way. We have a really nice center in our city that's whole downstairs and 1/2 the main floor is devoted to children touching and leaning about art and science. It's one of Leah's favorite places. She also was in a week long pottery class given by a local book store that she really enjoyed.

Belroyd · 08-31-2006, 11:20 AM

Hi Michael
Read your message but couldn't see the sculptures? Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?

Haven't seen anything similar over here. Corgis don't seem as popular here at present as they obviously are elsewhere in the world.

I used to holiday in Pembroke but mine were the only corgis I saw at the time.