Moss maiden

By Rita Button

Dale Doebert loves moss. A gardener with The City of Victoria, he also loves Beacon Hill Park. Dale has watched people’s reactions to the park for many years. Because he seems anonymous to most - just the gardener doing his job, he gets to see the raw emotion as people respond to what they see. Dale’s observations have made him realize that people often come to the park to forget the busy world outside, to find a feeling of calm, and to make sense of the tragedies in their own lives. Therefore, he has long had the idea of creating pieces of art in the park that would add to the wonder and reflectiveness of Beacon Hill Park.

And so one day while surfing the net, he found the original Moss Lady (known as the Mud Woman) near the Eden Project in Cornwall, in the reclaimed Tremayne garden that had been forgotten since its gardeners left to fight in World War I, and rediscovered in 1990. Dale started thinking about creating a Moss Lady at Beacon Hill, and set the wheels in motion to achieve his goal.

On Tuesday, October 27, Melinda Jolley, Citizen Engagement Coordinator; Dagmar McCord, assistant supervisor of parks; Dale, a gardener with the Parks Division; and I gathered at the site to hear how the Moss Lady came to recline at Beacon Hill Park, just behind the Cameron Bandstand. Dale emphasized repeatedly that it wasn’t just he; it was everyone on the city park staff that had made this project feasible and successful. None of the elements of this project has been contracted out: “We can do it ourselves,” said Dale proudly as he talked about Jamie De Amaral and Louis Macedo, the singing cement workers who created the woman’s face, arm and hand. 

The site was suggested by Doug Demarzo, a parks planner who has since moved to a municipality up-island. Dale could see the wisdom in the suggestion, for although the site is close to Douglas Street, the greenery of the park mutes the traffic noise and creates a silence that invites contemplation.

Steve Curry, Supervisor, Ornamental Horticulture and Nursery Operations and Dagmar McCord, his assistant, decided that clay-based soil would have the best chance at sustaining the moss project for a long period of time. And Dale assured me that the Moss Lady would lie among the ferns and the moss for our children and our children’s children to enjoy.

But for that to happen, they had to reduce the ph level of the soil. The soil feels very dense, almost like wood. Two kinds of moss have been fastened to the Moss Lady’s form: cat-tail and club. 

To contribute to the permanence of the sculpture, a stainless steel rod has been bent all around the body like a spider web or an exoskeleton. This is anchored with six to eight-inch stainless steel rods. Boulders also add permanence to her form. Beneath the moss, the joints are welded together by Ken Elliot who also created and welded an ankle bracelet together that joins the ankle to the leg. Dagmar’s picture of this device shows a creative solution to a problem.

Concrete and masonry were used to create the form, thirty layers - and each layer is glued to the previous one. Cathy Sansom showed her finesse with a trowel here. Over the whole form is wire netting with staples holding the wire and moss in place. Already the wire is becoming overgrown with moss.

The woman is thirty-six feet long and six feet wide at the shoulder. Fifteen yards of clay were used as a base for the moss, and irrigation occurs three times a day for ten minutes. Native plants such as ferns, native dogwoods and trilliums will surround the woman who lies on her side while crocosmia creates a magnificent hairdo, rebellious pink in the summer, traditional brown in the winter.

The Moss Lady might be dreaming of ecosystems as she contemplates her environs. On her form, salamanders and slugs are evidence that another natural world is emerging from the depths of her beginnings. 

A wonderful surprise to meet in Beacon Hill Park, the Moss Lady not only communicates the idea of calmness in the greenness of the park but she is also a concrete example of what is possible through collaboration. Dale’s idea became real because everyone on the team contributed. She is an “in-house” creation. Or should that be “in-park?” She is there because the concept fell on the fertile ground of a team who value new ideas and who have the will to grow them into reality.

The Moss Lady will be appreciated by many who visit the park. And these park visitors will be observed by the park’s staff to see how the visitors interact with the Lady. These observations will dictate how the Lady will adapt to her new surroundings, creating another space for wonder and reflection at Beacon Hill Park where everyone is welcome.

The unveiling of this magnificent work will occur in December.