Stela I

Stela I by Elza Mayhew, column in aluminum

Photo: Ken Mcallister

Unveiling of Stelae at UBC with President Santa Ono

Date: 1963
Size: H: 72” x W: 20” x D: 10”
Weight: 450 lbs.
Casts: 1
Form: Column
Material: Aluminum

The Stelae* were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1964; also at the Federation of Canadian Artists Centennial B.C. Sculpture Exhibition 1967, in Vancouver. Earlier, in 1963, at the Lucien Campbell Plaza, University of Oregon, Eugene. In 2019, the Stelae were donated by the artist’s family to the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, at the University of British Columbia. A permanent outdoor site was chosen, and the launch celebration took place on September 18, 2021.

In his opening remarks, UBC President Santa Ono stressed how important it is for everyone to be grounded in the arts, because they nourish the soul and the spirit.
“And if you think about the health scientists and the medics that we’ll be training here, it’s incredibly important for them … to be nurtured by the beauty of art. “None of this is written on my speaking notes, it’s just coming from my heart, and that’s why I wanted to say why this gift and this dedication of the sculptures mean so much to me…. “Stela I and Stela II will bring joy to the UBC campus for many years to come. No matter how these buildings might change, they will be points of reference, they will be constancy in the evolution of this campus.”

From an essay in the Belkin Outdoor Art Newsletter, 2021, “The Shape of Her Life”, by Julia Trojanowski: “Stela I and Stela II stand as a pair on a shady hill on the west side of UBC campus. They call to mind a number of ancient markers – stelae, cairns, herms, tombstones – without invoking a particular model. Their titles allude to the stone monuments with which Mayhew would have been familiar as a result of her academic interests and her travels. She majored in French and Latin at UBC, and wrote her BA Honours thesis [in 1936] on the subject of Roman tombstones.”

Note: The sculptures are located in the green space on the east side of the J.B. Macdonald Building, within the Health Sciences Complex at UBC.

stele, stelae: “Upright slab or pillar usu. with inscription and sculpture, esp. as gravestone. Greek.” Oxford English Dictionary.