Project Goal
My creative angle was a consideration for time and place. Public art has the unique role of staying put while the world changes around it. As a point of departure for the graphics I thought about transit today, knowing that eventually it will be yesterday.
Landscape - Earlscourt Ave. & St. Clair Ave.
External Constraints
- Safety and longevity limitations imposed by the City of Toronto’s public art bylaws.
- Engineering limits of the built TTC streetcar shelter frames
- Wear and corrosion factors like weather, air pollution and physical abuse/vandalism
- Size demands limited the fabrication methods available
Solutions
- The physical size of the project meant that I had to outsource a commercial glass company for its fabrication
I found a local fabricator that usually makes shatter-proof glass store fronts. They had the technology and tools I needed to conform to the safety, size and engineering regs. With some convincing I was able to manipulate their processes to fit my design plan.
- An imposed maximum height limited the weight of the glass panels. I circumvented this height restriction by cutting out the top profile. By displacing the weight from one area to another, I met the weight limit while using the panel shape as part of the graphic.
- The colour in the panels can be damaged by UV rays over time. I was able to embed all the UV sensitive materials within the laminate, between two sheets of UV protected glass.
Creative
1.
- At Earslcourt Ave., I used silhouette illustration to communicate landscapes.
- As an urban dweller, I have a particular notion of the sights and colours in the city, the suburbs, the industrial lands and the country.
- I distilled each landscape down to a colour, a horizon and its corresponding modes of transit.
2.
- At Arlington Ave., the visuals were made collaboratively with Aaron Oussoren.
- The imagery reflects our dialogue about the city in motion. People traveling through a city network is what makes an urban system hum.
Conclusions and Hindsight
Whenever I’m on St. Clair Ave. I have the opportunity to reassess my design choices while I’m driving by or waiting for the streetcar. As expected, eight years later, I am certainly different and the installations are uncomplicated reminders of my 27-year-old perspective. The surrounding ‘landscape’ is just starting to change.
For now the work is just staying put. On sunny days, it brightly projects colourful shapes and stripes on the sidewalk while it waits for the world to change around it.
photo credits: michelle clarke, sally mccubbin, beth mccubbin, aaron oussoren
All images and content© 2017 Sally McCubbin