lit a candle 5h ago82. walked through his sculpture gardens in Kelowna once and never forgot it
Their story
Geert Maas, the Dutch-born sculptor whose bronze figures became fixtures of Kelowna, British Columbia, and the wider Okanagan Valley, died on October 16, 2026, at the age of 82. He had been in declining health for several years before his death, according to the notice released by his family. Maas…
Geert Maas, the Dutch-born sculptor whose bronze figures became fixtures of Kelowna, British Columbia, and the wider Okanagan Valley, died on October 16, 2026, at the age of 82. He had been in declining health for several years before his death, according to the notice released by his family.
Maas was born in 1944 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and trained at the Academies of Art in The Hague before building a career as a sculptor working largely in bronze and clay, often in an abstract or semi-abstract idiom. In 1979 he moved with his family to Kelowna, British Columbia, where he would live and work for close to half a century, becoming one of the region's most recognisable artistic figures.
Together with his wife, Elly, Maas founded the Geert Maas Sculpture Gardens and Gallery in Kelowna, a property that grew into one of the largest collections of bronze sculpture on display in Canada alongside paintings and relief work. The gardens became both a working studio and a public attraction, drawing visitors who wandered among his figures outdoors rather than viewing them only behind gallery glass. Beyond his own grounds, his work entered the civic life of the Okanagan directly: pieces such as the bronze grouping On the Beach and the 2008 public artwork Spirit of Kelowna, created inside Kelowna's city hall with the participation of community members that he and Elly guided through the casting process, placed his sculpture in everyday public space rather than only in collectors' hands. He was also commissioned to design provincial award trophies for organisations including the British Columbia Museums Association and Theatre BC.
His contribution to the region's cultural life was formally recognised in 2010, when he received the Okanagan Arts Lifetime Achievement Award. Over more than four decades in Kelowna he came to be described by local press as an internationally acclaimed artist whose work would continue to be encountered throughout the city long after his death.
Maas's family announced his passing in an obituary that spoke of a man devoted to his relatives as well as his art, noting that visits with his children and grandchildren at gatherings in Kelowna and at his children's homes meant a great deal to him. He was cared for in his final years by Elly, his wife of 57 years. News of his death prompted tributes from Okanagan arts organisations and local media, who highlighted both the scale of his public sculpture collection and the personal warmth for which he was remembered by those who knew him. Details of funeral or memorial arrangements, and the future of the Sculpture Gardens and Gallery itself, had not been fully settled at the time of his death, though at least one major work, Goddesses of the Universe, was reported to be leaving the gallery's collection.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Summerland Review.
In their own words
“When I think back to those days, my ideas for sculptures came mostly from observing nature and people.”
Recalling his years at the Swolgen farmhouse, in Geert Maas: Sculpting Legacies (2026)
“But it was people, their forms, their emotions, and their stories that truly intrigued me.”
On his sources of inspiration, Geert Maas: Sculpting Legacies (2026)
“I always felt that round shapes had more substance, more life. They spoke of resilience and the essence of human nature.”
Explaining his signature rounded forms, Geert Maas: Sculpting Legacies (2026)
“I admired Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Lipschitz for their unique perspectives on form and space. Their work provided inspiration but I never imitated them.”
On his influences, Geert Maas: Sculpting Legacies (2026)
“In the Netherlands, art and culture are woven into the very fabric of society. Every town, no matter how small, might boast its own public artworks or a museum.”
Comparing the Netherlands and Canada, Geert Maas: Sculpting Legacies (2026)
“The rounded forms in Geert's artwork reflect humanity, love, and humour. His inspiration for rounded forms is stimulated by the rolling hills around Kelowna.”
Elly Maas, in a video about the making of On the Beach, quoted by the Kelowna Daily Courier (2026)
Photos
2by People Forever
Geert Maas, obituary portrait
by People Forever
those gardens are something else, glad you got to see them