“They took it from the kids,” carving at Cottonwood Park vandalized

It doesn’t help to get upset.

Those are the words of Elmer Gunderson, the artist whose carving at Cottonwood park was vandalized recently, the face of a dragon removed.

According to the Cottonwood Island Nature Park website, in 2005 Gunderson made eight carvings that were sponsored by the City of Prince George’s 90th Anniversary committee. Two of those carvings have since been lost due to flooding along the Nechako River. In 2016 six more carvings were added and eight more in 2017.

Gunderson told MyPGNow that a woman walking the trails called him last night (Tuesday) to inform him that a carving, a dragon he made for children, had been damaged.

“This morning I got up early to check, sometimes people think the carvings have been damaged when actually it’s mother nature’s wear on the pieces.”

The woman who told him about it collected the pieces and Elmer said he’s going to try and reconstruct the face.

“People asked when I posted it on Facebook whether I was mad or upset and basically, I just say, will it help? I’ve tried it before, getting upset or mad or getting upset at different things, and it really doesn’t help or change anything. Life takes its course and we learn how to work around it, or work with it. So I’m not upset. I wish the person would have asked me and I would have taught them how to carve rather than having them go in there and destroying it and stealing it from everyone else.”

Overall, Gunderson said he’s grateful for the support for his artwork from the public and the city.

“There’s more good people out there than bad, I’ve had tremendous support from the locals here,” said Gunderson.

“All through life we take from nature, it’s nice to give back. That’s part of the reasons I did the carvings in the park. I hope maybe the people that did this will have a chance to give back.”