Title: The Bullas Sculptures
Year: 1940
Artist: Helen Waimel Robertson
Medium: Cast Stone
Location: Centre in the Square
101 Queen St. S.,
Kitchener, ON
N2H 6P7
Acquisition Method: Other (Donation by Susan Kachik)
Kitchener’s historic Bullas sculptures were commissioned circa 1940 by Mr. Roy
Bullas for installation in a fountain in front of his furniture store on Charles Street.
Canadian artist Helen Waimel Robertson created two sea goddesses riding on
the backs of dolphins. Although her inspiration for this commission is not known,
she may have been thinking of the Nereids who were daughters of Nereus, a sea
god of Greek mythology. The sculptures’ style is influenced by the Art Deco
period’s clean, modern lines. Clay models were used to create molds and the
sculptures were then cast in concrete containing a quartz aggregate. Over fifty
years of weathering in outdoor locations have left the sculptures in a fragile state.
Helen Waimel Robertson (1917 – 2002) was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club to
attend the Ontario College of Art in 1934 where she completed the five year
program in three years, receiving a Governor General’s Gold Medal Award.
Robertson was a member of the Sculptors’ Society of Canada. Her works are in
the collections of private and public institutions in Canada and the United States.
The Bullas sculptures are the only examples of figurative public art from the mid-
20th Century period in the City’s public art collection. They were donated to the
City in 1998 by Susan and David Kachik.
The Board of Directors at Centre-in-the-Square kindly permits the display of the
sculptures.