TTC Sherbourne: Custom Tile Production

15th August 2018 By Admin

Mike Hauner, Partner at Interstyle Ceramic + Glass presenting the first batch of tile bisque.

After months of planning, the Sherbourne Community Mosaic has entered the fabrication phase.  The 39 mosaic panels that will form the Sherbourne Community Mosaic will cover 400SF of the TTC Sherbourne Station.

The approximately 14,000 custom ceramic tiles are being produced in Canada by Interstyle Ceramic + Glass in Burnaby, BC.  The equilateral triangle tiles are hand-made from Earthenglass™, a blend of 100% recycled glass with clay and porcelain.

In partnership with Interstyle Ceramic + Glass we’ve developed 12 bespoke colours that have been inspired by the paint palette of Canadian painter, Tom Thomson.  Thomson once had a studio in the Toronto neighbourhood where the mosaic will be located.  The 12 colour glazes match the coloured cardboard tiles that we used in the Sherbourne Community Mosaic pattern-making workshop series held around TTC Sherbourne in April.

To make the tile bisque the clay mix is rolled flat and then cut into equilateral triangles using a custom die.

Unglazed tile bisque.

Inspecting the freshly baked tile bisque.

Custom colour test samples in the glazing ‘kitchen’.

Interstyle Ceramic + Glass, Burnaby, B.C. Canada.

Newly Planted: GIANT

20th June 2018 By Admin

We are very pleased to announce the recent installation of ‘Giant’, a 71’ tall artwork commissioned by PC Urban for the newly rebuilt Lightworks Building, located at 22 East 5th Avenue in Vancouver’s Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood.

At 71′ tall, ‘Giant’ represents a juvenile Douglas Fir tree, standing at the approximate height a real Douglas Fir might be in 2018, had it started from seed when the original Lightworks building was first built in 1942.  

Our special thanks to Gerald Nimchuk and his great team at East Van Vinyl for their expert printing and precision installation.  East Van Vinyl are located on 6th Avenue, only one block away from GIANT!  Thank you also to Wade Girgulis, Project Manager at PC Urban and Jan Ballard and her team at Ballard Fine Art for this opportunity.

GIANT installation half way.  The installation took place in two phases and took four days to complete.

On the doors at the main entrance to the Lightworks Building the GIANT image is fritted inside the glass panes for added protection

TTC Sherbourne: Tom Thomson Colour Palette

13th June 2018 By Admin

The Sherbourne Station Community Mosaic will use a set of 12 colours that are inspired by the palette of iconic Canadian painter, Tom Thomson.

Colour testing by Interstyle Ceramic & Glass of the twelve colours chosen for the TTC Sherbourne Community Mosaic

Thomas John Thomson, painter (born 5 August 1877 in Claremont, ON; died 8 July 1917 in Algonquin Provincial Park, ON). An early inspiration for what became The Group of Seven, Tom Thomson was one of the most influential and enduringly popular Canadian artists of the early part of the twentieth century. His paintings The West Wind (1917) and Jack Pine (1916-1917) are familiar Canadian icons.  Thomson was a master colourist.

Thomson was one of the first artists in residence at the Studio Building, located at 25 Severn Street, in the Rosedale ravine immediately east of the above-ground Ellis portal that brings subway trains into and out of the north end of the Bloor-Yonge subway station, a short walking distance from Sherbourne Station. His studio’s site and positioning takes advantage of the northern exposure that illuminates the artist’s canvas with very even, neutral light.  Completed in 1914, the nonprofit facility was financed by Lawren Harris, heir to the Massey-Harris farm machinery fortune, and Dr James MacCallum.

Thomson would spend the summers in Algonquin Park and winter at the Studio Building in a refurbished a workmen’s shed on the east side of the building that MacCallum had converted so Thomson could work in an environment closer to his beloved wilderness settings.