There was additional excitement in downtown Lacombe yesterday beyond temporary lines being painted on Main Street and road blocks being removed following  construction, a new public art piece was installed.

Edmonton sculptor William Johnson was on hand to unveil 'The Kinetic Tree', which is a metal tree and a canopy of maple leaf leaves, people adorning the bark of the tree, and birds that move.

He says it has a real energy to it.

“It’s about introducing that movement, that kinetic aspect, when it’s actually just static standing there.  It’s about making the viewer actually look at that and say ‘wow, this has energy, it’s moving’”.

As Johnson explains, the piece will actually lend itself to some additional visual art when both the sun and street lights shine through it.

“In the canopy where all the maple leafs are cut out, what’s going to happen is the sun is going to reflect at any given point in the year the sun is going to reflect through all these open leaves, it’s going to create its own sort of pattern and painting on the tree itself, as well as on the ground”.

'The Kinetic Tree' was installed at the south end of 49th street, the former one way, making it visible from the intersection of Highway 12 and 2A.

Maureen MacKenzie with the City of Lacombe explains their vision for this project.

“Pull together the theme of our historic downtown; it’s got people in the trunk to represent community and also the maple leaf for Canada and the beautiful trees that are in Lacombe”.

It was about a $20,000 project funded by the 1% for art policy in Lacombe, and with dollars from the art collection operating budget according to MacKenzie.

You'll soon see more of Johnson's work in central Alberta; he's currently working on a public art piece for Fire Station #4 in Red Deer, a hammered aluminum low relief sculpture.