Image of the sculpture “Nest” by Mark Puigmarti located at Brock Rd. & William Jackson Dr., Pickering.

About the Artwork

Nest is a sculpture of a tree, made by Mark Puigmarti. Created and installed in October of 2021, it is made with: stainless steel; fabricated, weathered steel tubing; copper; and bronze. As the name implies, the sculpture has a depiction of a bird’s nest, with a mother bird feeding her hatchling. The sculpture measures roughly 13 ft. in all directions, and is quite heavy in its imagery of a safe space for one to raise a family. As one gazes upon this artwork, it becomes easy to picture the countless lives that cycled through to completion in Pickering; from being the ‘hatchling,’ to being the parent. To these people, Pickering has been a ‘tree’ for them to ‘nest’ in, and it is where more people will come to live, or to start their own families.

About the Artist

“What seems like lifetimes ago Mark was refrigeration and HVAC mechanic. Working on commercial industrial gizmos that kept things or people warm or cold, while usually experiencing the polar opposite temperature of whatever it was he was trying to rectify. It is a respectable trade that many men and some women make a respectable living at. However, as much as he tried to make the piping arrangements visually pleasing, orderly, and followable there was something lacking. It just never quite clicked with his persistent dream to follow a more artistic path. One day about half way into a 25 year run at HVACR, he made it his mission to try and change what seemed truly unchangeable. Slowly with a long list of coincidences, happy accidents and a $#!+load of sacrifices, particularly by his supportive wife Christine, positive results started to accumulate in the intended direction of working with hot metal. This did indeed take 10 years of incremental progression to end up at the beginning of a new and completely unrecognizable life and style. It is not lost on him to grasp the sheer improbability to do that mid-career, in that career, or any for that matter. That cord was cut 16 years ago now.”

To learn more about the artist, visit Mark’s website.

View the location of this piece on the Public Art Map.