Josef Petriska

10/31/2025

Canadian Sculptor, Josef Petriska loved and embraced challenges.

When the ALS Society of Canada commissioned him to design and create their Lou Gehrig Ironman Award for the , he jumped at this challenge. He sculpted this silver-nickel alloy form, an elegant double-sided symbol of strength, athleticism, perseverance, and open at its core, in the face of the debilitating and incurable (to date) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Over the years, some of the Toronto Blue Jays players Josef presented his auspicious award of recognition to were George Bell, Joe Carter, Dave Winfield, John Cerruti and Paul Molitor.

The ALS Society of Canada works to improve the lives of people living with ALS by providing information and support, advocating for better care, and investing in research for a world free of ALS.

Good luck to the Toronto Blue Jays in their quest for their 3rd World Series! The and the rest of Canada are behind you!

11/23/2024

In 1965, the Romanian Ensemble musical ‘Ciocârlia’ (meaning the skylark, a Romanian virtuosic style of the urban lăutarească music from late 19th century), arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia. The group/delegation was led by Simion Pop, a young and very talented singer, who would become one of Romania’s most celebrated and famous singers, was welcomed and hosted by Josef Petriska. Under the close and watchful eye of the “Securitate”, the strict, notorious, communist secret police, Josef showed Simion Pop and a group of delegates the beauty of Vancouver and British Columbia.

Music has the ability to transcend cultural and political differences, allowing the listeners to find common tunes, in which the resonance can produce the promise of a small smile, a tear and maybe even a hug. History has constantly evaded the magic of music and its effects on world events. It power should never be underestimated.

As thank you to Josef for his hospitality, Simion Pop performed, “Cine-a făcut Cântecul” - “He who made this song” at the Theatre in Vancouver in 1965 and dedicated it to Josef.

Every time Josef would hear this song, decades and decades after, it would always make him cry.

07/22/2024

Olympic Plaque, Bronze, 5.5” x 10” on antique wood by Canadian artist Josef Petriska, c. 1980’s.

In ancient Greece, athletics emerged as a way of communicating that brings a great sense of connection between people. It allowed individuals to elevate their position in society, train for combat, represent their city-state, and earn respect among their peers.

Good luck to all the talented, dedicated athletes at the games! Do your best and make your countries proud. Chase those dreams….

“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” - Michael Phelps

03/23/2024

Josef Petriska’s last sculpture, “Modern Embrace”, made when he was 83 years old. Cold cast bronze, 28” 2012

He made it in response to what he observed as a disconnection and disingenuous behaviour in humans today, as a result of our advancements in technology and communication over the past 50 years, we have become more and more distant from each other, even though we are all ‘connected’ online, there exists a cold gap/void between us.

“People embrace, but they don’t actually touch.“
- Josef Petriska (March 15 1929 - March 23 2015)

03/19/2024

The ink from this letter from close to 4 decades ago, has faded slightly, but the small token of acknowledgment and encouragement to Josef Petriska’s efforts to create awareness for our fragile heritage, from the Prime Minister of Canada at that time, Brian Mulroney, is still sparkling.

Mr. Mulroney’s hardline stance on the connection with acid rain and industrial pollution produced some of the strictest measures in the world to combat harmful emissions which was the root cause of acid rain.

If you are not quite sure of what the term acid rain means, that’s because pollution control measures to prevent it have been put in place, thanks to Brian Mulroney’s efforts.

If we could only mimic this model and look at other areas of pollution and emissions, we be back on the right track. 🚆

03/09/2024

“The Goddess of Fertility”, By Josef Petriska, bronze and agate stone, 18”, 1972

09/03/2023

08/12/2023

“Golden is where I was (re)born (a Canadian)”, as Josef Petriska always used to say about his first Canadian home. He arrived in Golden, British Columbia in 1952, after landing in Canada by ship in Nova Scotia from Amsterdam. Europe was in ruins during the late 40’s & early 50’s, there was no work/food/opportunities, and the prospects for 21 year old were not favourable. But, if you wanted to work hard, the West Coast of Canada wanted you. Josef’s first job was working in the hard rock mines in Golden. This type of work (backbreaking and labor intensive) was common for young European immigrants. He was part of the blasting crew and there was an explosion incident which caused temporary blindness for him for about 2 weeks in hospitalization. After regaining his sight, and realizing how lucky he was to still have the ability to see, Josef packed up and headed further west, to the City of Vancouver.

#1952

09/08/2022

“Prayer” by Josef Petriska, bronze & fibreglass 38”, 1974

09/01/2022

“Fish” carved out of a polypore (tree mushroom) by Canadian Sculptor Josef Petriska 🐟

06/17/2022

64 years ago today (June 17th 1958), 18 of the men in this photo were killed in a matter of seconds when the nearly completed bridge they were working on collapsed.

These are the Iron Workers of the Second Narrows Bridge (now renamed Iron Workers Memorial Crossing) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

It was the worst industrial tragedy in the history.

One of the surviving Iron Workers was Joe (Josef) Petriska, then 29 years old, seen on the left of the photo with the welding goggles on his white hard hat.

The construction company overseeing the er****on, Dominion Bridge, was an experienced bridge builder. Some 20 years earlier, Dominion provided steel structures for the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. They knew what they were doing, but it still went down.

In the chaos following the collapse, Josef Petriska was initially accused, as the section that he was responsible for was near where the collapse started. He was also an easy target: an immigrant (the only immigrant ironworker in the crew actually) and a big man with a thick Central European accent. It was later determined after the investigation that his work was completely intact.

The real reason for the collapse: a simple oversight in the engineering calculations. If it was check properly, I would not have collapsed.

The two engineers responsible for this error, were on the bridge when it came down and lost their lives.

The safety standards, practices, rules and guidelines that we benefit from today, as of 2022, come from the sacrifices, errors/mistakes and deaths of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

We have too many historical, tragic examples to learn from.
#1958

05/06/2022

To Josef Petriska, the 3 R’s was not a new trend or fad, it was more of a way of living, he learned from a very young age, during a time when these types of products did not even exist (1930’s and World War 2 in Europe). So, stretching the lifespan of anything and everything was the way things were done. At this time, garbage didn’t really exist, as there was no ‘source’.
This Rubbermaid garbage can is over 20 years old and still going strong, with the copper handle, the Canadian Sculptor added to it.