From Sketch to Sculpture: Biringan
Harvey Nichol embarked on an eight-month creative journey to craft his massive sculpture, Biringan
A montage of sketches by Harvey Nichol.
If you’ve wandered through downtown Calgary in the last year, you may have come across Biringan: A Myth Reimagined, multidisciplinary artist Harvey Nichol’s nine-foot-tall assemblage sculpture — a medium that creates something new by assembling a variety of found or discarded objects. It’s currently on tour within different downtown buildings. The sculpture’s grandeur, intricate details and layers of interpretation speak to Nichol’s clear artistic vision and intentional execution.
Nichol was Brookfield Properties’ second artist in residence in its 315 Artist in Residence program, an initiative aimed at adding vibrancy and art to the Calgary core. The program provides local artists the opportunity and space to create large-scale artwork and display it throughout Brookfield’s properties. Biringan, Nichol’s residency piece, is the result of an eight-month-long artistic journey that involved a very engaging creative process.
The sculpture was inspired by the mythical city of Biringan, which translates to where one finds the lost in the Waray language. Nichol sheds light on how his Filipino heritage informs his identity as a Calgarian. He brings the two together in a cohesive manner, showcasing the dichotomy between different cities within a singular piece. He developed the cityscape within the wings to resemble pre-colonial temples in Southeast Asia. The sculpture’s midsection portrays a futuristic and industrial setting to represent Calgary, and the bottom draws inspiration from the landscapes in Tondo, the district of Manila where Nichol is from. These elements mirror the three districts of the fictional city of Biringan, highlighting the inequality in its class structure.
Photos (left to right): Work in progress | Harvey Nichol; artist at work | Japes Cruz; final sculpture | Harvey Nichol.
Nichol dabbles in a variety of mediums, but murals, sculptures and comics are his bread and butter. Through all of his work, he employs a similar creative process, which includes some planning but ultimately a lot of evolution, letting the art carve its own path.
“For my murals, I give my clients a proposal, but I tell them that it might change or develop once I start painting the physical form. It’s always been a part of my process,” he says.
The same goes for the evolution of Biringan. Nichol’s original inspiration for his residency piece was a sculpture he created during his time at AUArts. That sculpture was much smaller, but the idea was similar. The earlier sculpture represented how his Filipino roots live within his mind, and for Biringan, he wanted to take this concept and push it forward to embody how his Calgary identity, too, lives within him.
Nichol spent months conceptualizing the project, and as expected, it changed throughout the process, much like his other works. Initially, Nichol wanted the sculpture to use the same material as his smaller bust sculpture, but he needed a much sturdier substance than foam and cardboard for a project of Biringan’s size and splendour. He ended up using welded steel. The god-like head also wasn’t part of the original draft; it came about once he scrapped the first head he welded, which felt too robotic for the messaging he was trying to convey.
A self-proclaimed night owl, Nichol often finds his creative flow after the sun has set, and it was no different for his journey creating Biringan. For months, you could find Nichol in Bankers Hall, working into the early hours of the morning, drawing inspiration from the rush of people leaving work for the evening and diving into his own process and reflection once he was alone. “When the world is quiet, that’s when my brain starts working,” he says.
His eight-month residency was divided into different modules, each with a separate focus that ultimately created the final piece.
CONCEPTUALIZATION AND SOURCING
From May to July 2024, Nichol worked on the design and sourcing of materials. The bulk of Biringan is made from recycled elements. “I tried to be as sustainable as possible because having it very big, I didn’t want it to be all brand new materials,” he explains.
He finalized his vision with drafts and drawings and spent the time exploring various metal shop dumpsters for material. People brought him bins of old office supplies, like telephones, that he would disassemble and use.
BUILDING THE BASE
In August, vision became reality when he got started on building the base. Since he was working in Bankers Hall, Nichol partnered with a friend and, together, welded the skeleton of the sculpture in a metal shop in the back of a garage.
ADDING THE MUSCLE
After the skeleton came what Nichol calls the “muscle” — the wood pieces that make up the body. Come September, he began the next layer of the sculpture, attaching all the woodcuts that make up the district details and platforms, and wings.
FINAL DETAILS
In October, Nichol added the small, detailed ornaments, which he collected from various community donations. He received plastic toys, metal tubes, mechanical gears and a variety of items that look cyber-punk and futuristic. He finished the piece by painting it all faux-bronze, giving it a cohesive metallic look.
Like many artists, Nichol struggles to know when a piece is complete — sometimes he still feels like Biringan isn’t fully finished. With the residency timeline, Nichol had a deadline to mark the finish, and the final result reflects both the evolution of a creative process and an unyielding artistic message.
“I wanted to tell a story of vast inequality and to also give a sense of myself to the people. It’s something that you look at with so many subtexts in it. It’s not just the physical sculpture itself; it’s the idea of it all. And that, to me, is important as an artist.”
Photos (left to right): Detail of Biringan | Mark11Photography/Brookfield, and Harvey Nichol with his sculpture | Japes Cruz.
Biringan: A Myth Reimagined is currently on display at Bankers Hall, Level 4 until December 2025. Harvey Nichols’ most recent work, Hinga at Hangin, a collaborative work with artist Mar Cortez, can be found at the Calgary Central Library until January, 2026.
This article was originally published in the 2025 edition of Create Calgary, an annual magazine launched by Calgary Arts Development to celebrate the work of artists who call Mohkinsstsis/Calgary home.
You can pick up a free copy at public libraries, community recreation centres and other places where you find your favourite magazines. You can also read the digital version online here.
