Squirrel and acorn in Waterloo Park meant to encourage community gatherings

The City of Waterloo hopes a public art installation it commissioned from sculptor Ted Fullerton will become a space for community gatherings or impromptu conversations between strangers. 

Nuts was installed in July at Waterloo Park on the Father David Bauer Drive section of the park near the baseball fields.

One table has a small squirrel on one end, and the other has a much larger acorn. The tables face one another.

Sonya Poweska, the city's cultural program specialist, told CBC K-W people have already been engaging with the piece and using it as the artist intended.

"The acorn is very large, the squirrel is very small, and someone had taken a pile of acorns and actually put them in front of the squirrel," she said.

The piece was commissioned by the City of Waterloo with the support of GHD Canada, and it's the second piece of public art commissioned under the city's new public art policy. The first piece is called Fish Out of Water and has been installed at the service centre in Waterloo. 

The city will be officially unveiling Nuts August 12 at 11:00 a.m.