Cone of contention ripens into a work of art

In the murky airspace where a busker's voice mingles with the sound of the band playing in Christchurch's Cathedral Square stands the Chalice.

During yesterday's lunch-hour rush on a clear, sunny day, people walked past with sandwiches in hand, eyes dead ahead, barely glancing at the 18m-high silver sculpture.

In the case of the Chalice, familiarity has not bred contempt.

What was once a cone of contention seems to have ripened into an art work that, our tourists at least, appreciate.

Despite being built in celebration of millennium year and Canterbury's 150th anniversary, delays meant it was finally installed in September 2001.

Time for a seven-year itch?

In the years preceding its installation, critics denounced the filigreed steelwork as "an affront" and a "vulgarity". The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party claimed it resembled a giant dope reefer.

Christchurch architect Peter Beaven called it "disgusting" and likened it to "the vent to an underground toilet".

Supporters emerged later, once it was in place.

The Press yesterday spent an hour with the Chalice.

A man with a wispy beard shouted" ice-cream cone" at it and briskly walked away.

A man eating chips at the tip of its noon shadow called it "arty-farty metal crap", but Olive Voon, two, gave it a mighty hug while her father looked on.

South African Marilize Stoltz, 36, thinks New Zealanders take their public art for granted.

"I like it," she said.

"I can understand people being a bit upset that Christchurch is called the Garden City and this is a piece of metal, but it's different and quite beautiful. I see plants in it.

"I told a Kiwi friend that the new wheat sculpture (Flour Power in the City Mall) was awesome and he just said, `it's only wheat'."

Lee Russell chose to sit by the Chalice as he waited for noon to strike so he could pick up his working visa for New Zealand.

"It was the first thing I saw when I came here because it's near the Immigration Office," he said.

"It will always remind me of Christchurch. I like it."

Ryan Thompson, 22, was busy polishing the rubbish bins in Cathedral Square when The Press pointed out the Chalice to him. He got the fright of his life.

"I've been living here all my life and never noticed it," he said.

"It's very good, like a cup or something. Maybe it would look better with a bit of bronze or gold."

They crouched, they lay on their stomachs, and they aimed their cameras and camera-phones high.

The Spanish couple liked it, the British couple liked it, brother and sister tourists from Australia had a family disagreement over it but they all took a snap anyway.

Chalice sculptor Neil Dawson told The Press yesterday that earlier criticism had been "absolutely insulting" but he never wanted to publicly respond "because I'd be in the gutter myself".

However, seven years down the line, he is proud of his art.

"It's grown within the city," he said. "You seldom see postcards of the Square without the Chalice. It's had a cultural value that's built over time."