Wendy Rose

This stainless steel sculpture is shown in work clothes proudly donning a red glass polka dot scarf. page

She is seen stepping from the home to the industrial work world and into the future, crossing the dam that powered the shipyards.

Wendy is surrounded by other local symbols of the era which help celebrate the spirit and legacy of the women of WWII.

Wendy Rose stands in the James and Joyce Harder Memorial Plaza, which is named after the family who started Thompson Metal Fab, a metal fabrication company located on the original Kaiser Shipyard site.

As a little girl, Terry Marvin would listen to her father recount how her grandmother toiled as a welder at Vancouver’s Kaiser Shipyard during World War II. post

“I’ve got some stories of my grandmother coming home from welding with flash burns and putting raw potatoes on her eyes,” she said.

As a grown woman, Marvin has an opportunity to use her art to honor the dedication of her grandmother and thousands of other Vancouver women who helped build the ships needed to defeat the fascist powers.

Marvin is a member of Women Who Weld, a group of torch-wielding artists who specialize in welded metal sculpture. The group, at the city of Vancouver’s request, designed a waterfront sculpture commemorating the industrial contributions of women on the home front. The finished artwork would be placed near Beaches restaurant along the city’s waterfront trail.

After a pub lunch I explored the waterfront trail where I encountered and photographed the memorial sculpture.

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