John Nugent is an artists with a different point of view; as a young man he was influenced by the catholic religion and the strong beliefs it held after the war. In 1948 he moved to Lumsden, Saskatchewan. He had commissions at the time to make chalice's and crucifixes for the church. He supported his family by this and making and selling candles. His interpretations of these chalices and crucifixes were met with criticism. In the 1960;s his candle works burned down. He stopped making candles and his art work turned to sculpting steel. Two of his commissions we had here in Saskatchewan were met with lots of controversy. One was of Louis Riel. In fact some found it offensive and had it removed.
another was called No. 1 Northern. Also an embarrassment to many again. Nugent's inspiration was the ripe fields of golden wheat. His sculpture was a metaphor for those wheat fields. A petition stating that "it didn't represent wheat or agriculture or anything" and that they wanted this sculpture gone... had it removed after years.
