Martin Love Stone Sculpture
The information below gives the background to the stone sculpture created by Martin Love, situated at the beginning of the Sanctuary walk.
“What is a Sanctuary for? Is it to nurture the land, plants and wildlife? Or is it for the people to take refuge from their other, busy world. To get benefit from these connections, it doesn’t happen once, it is an ongoing process.” Martin Love
This sculpture was inspired by, and pays tribute to, the years of hard work, commitment and generosity the hundreds of volunteers, sponsors and donors have given the Sanctuary.
The piece is an interpretation of the Sanctuary’s logo, carved from Oamaru stone (aka totara limestone) by local sculptor Martin Love, who has an ongoing family connection with the Sanctuary. Acknowledging that our conservation efforts rely on many contributors from the community, family and friends, Martin in turn volunteered his skills to honour all those involved.
The Sanctuary’s logo (seen at the bottom of this page) was designed by local artist, Dean Raybould. The curved beak and wattle indentation depict birds like the kōkako, tīeke and the extinct huia.
“There is of course an element of the hand holding/supporting/protecting the birdlife, but also I wanted to try and get a bit of a feel of a bowl shape too, symbolising the Sanctuary itself. The other part of the logo is the hand’s fingers doubling as the bird’s other wing- so that was about ‘setting the birds free’. I always loved the idea that the protected birdlife could ‘overflow’ into Nelson itself. The blue swish at the bottom is the river/water flowing through the valley.” Dean Raybould
