Place
MERGE: workshop day at Lynnmour Xá7elcha Elementary
I had a wonderful day yesterday at Lynnmour Xá7elcha Elementary in the District of North Vancouver. The school is right across the street from the ‘Merge’ artwork.
Last October I was contacted by teachers Paul Best and Leslie McGuire, who had heard my interview about the colourful acoustic barrier wall on CBC’s ‘On the Coast’ and invited me to visit the school and talk a bit about the project.
After a brief presentation to Monique Zander’s grades 3/4 and Mr. Best’s 4/5 classes on how the colours were chosen from references in nature, everyone went outside with pencils and notebooks in hand to notate the natural colours they could find in the ‘Merge’ neighbourhood.
Back in the auditorium, all 40 students made colourful, abstract stripes, using oil pastels to represent the found colours before arranging them into one large and fascinating conglomeration – their own version of ‘Merge’!
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MERGE (2022) Rebecca Bayer, 356m x 4m, Powder-coated Aluminum Acoustic Panels,
Trans-Canada Highway @ Keith Road, Lynnmour, District of North Vancouver, territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) – CBC ‘On The Coast’ interview
On 25, Oct 2021 | In infrastructure, Make, News, Place, Project | By Admin
On Thursday October 21, Rebecca spoke a bit about MERGE with Gloria Macarenko on CBC Radio ‘On The Coast’. Check out the recording here!
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Update: North Shore News
Many thanks to Brent Richter and Mike Wakefield from the North Shore News for this article about ‘MERGE’ #mergesoundwall.
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“For too long, it’s been a traffic jam through a construction site. But the bottom of The Cut is taking on a whole new look.
Artist Rebecca Bayer is putting the final touches on Merge, a 366-metre-long shock of colour stretching along Highway 1 between Mountain Highway and Fern Street.
It is one of the final pieces of the $200-million Lower Lynn Improvement Project, intended to shield the Inter River neighbourhood from highway noise. But it’s also now likely the largest single piece of public art on the North Shore.
“An acoustic barrier wall could be very mundane and boring, but my hope with the bright colours is that it is more interesting and vibrant from both sides. It can be experienced at a slow pace, but also a fairly quick pace if you’re driving along the highway, and it sort of blurs together as you drive by,” she said. “I get pretty excited by public art that really blends with the infrastructure or architecture, and it just becomes part of something that was already going to be there anyway.”
Bayer chose the 20 different colours specifically because they are found in the flora, fauna and landmarks from the Lynn Valley area. Bayer consulted with the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre to match colours with individual species like the red-backed salamander, Pacific chorus frog and licorice fern. She then tried out different permutations to come up with the pattern that exists there today. “There is quite an amazing pocket of nature right there,” she said. “It made sense to try to work with the natural palette in some way.”
On the Inter River side, the names of the species appear on some panels, which Bayer said she hopes will enable Merge to educate as well as beautify.
Lori Phillips, the District of North Vancouver’s public art officer who helped in the selection process of Bayer for the project, said it does both. “Merge is a perfect example of the magic that can happen when artists are added to infrastructure projects. Suddenly a rather understated sound wall is transformed into a dynamic public artwork that is free and accessible for everyone to enjoy,” she said. “The District of North Vancouver’s public art program, was thrilled to partner with the [Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure] on this project and we know that the residents of Lynnmour, along with the thousands of daily commuters and travellers on Highway 1 will enjoy its masterful merge of colour and story, for years to come.”
Even as sound barriers/art canvasses go, the panels are a “world-class sound attenuation product” designed to neutralize sound, not just bounce it away from residences, said Mark Hersey, managing partner of Solid Rock Fencing, the company contracted to install the 623 panels.
Today, there are just a few gaps in the wall, which will be filled when the final panels arrive from Europe, Hersey said.
The final components of the Lower Lynn Improvement Project, including combining the Main Street and Dollarton Highway on-ramps into one with signalized traffic control, are expected to come online later this fall.”
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Special thanks on this project go out to:
Jay Porter, BC Transportation and Infrastructure
Erin Moxton, North Vancouver District
Lori Phillips, North Vancouver Recreation & Culture
Tamsin Guppy, Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre
Rainer Kraft, KCI Kraft Consulting Inc.
Mark Hersey and Jason Hardy, Solid Rock Fencing Ltd.
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MERGE (2021) Rebecca Bayer, 356m x 4m, Powder-coated Aluminum Acoustic Panels,
Trans-Canada Highway @ Keith Road, Lynnmour, District of North Vancouver, territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations
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More info:
http://www.spacemakeplace.com/portfolio/merge-lynnmour-sound-wall/
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Update: Colourful Transformation
On 17, Sep 2021 | In infrastructure, Make, Place, Project | By Admin
It’s been another productive week at MERGE. We want to offer a special thanks to Mark Hersey, Jason Hardy and the team from Solid Rock Fencing for their special attention to detail and careful installation of the 623 colourful acoustic panels. This project is starting to transform the landscape and has already made a huge difference in reducing the traffic noise level in the neighbouring Lynnmour community.
It is all coming together very nicely and everyone is excited to see the wall complete in the next few weeks.
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall – 2021), will feature twenty naturalistic colours which represent a selection of local flora, fauna and landmarks specific to the Lynnmour community and area. Merge stands at 4m tall and spans 356m along the newly reconfigured section of the Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1) between Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing and Lynn Creek. The acoustic dampening, sound wall sits between the highway and the residential neighbourhood along Keith Road and is clad in colourful powder-coated aluminum panels. The panels have been carefully configured to produce a giant, site-specific spectrum designed to be viewed by both passing traffic and residents in nearby communities.
@solidrockfencing
@KCIKraftConsultingInc
@NVanDistrict
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Update: Waidhofen, Austria
On 11, Mar 2021 | In infrastructure, Make, News, Place, Project | By Admin
Thanks to FORSTER and Rainer Kraft from Kraft Consulting for their recent photos of the colourful acoustic panels that have now been fabricated at Forster’s factory in Waidhofen, Austria. Later this summer (2021) these panels will be installed along side 356m of Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1) between Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing and Lynn Creek in the District of North Vancouver.
The public artwork, MERGE, will feature twenty naturalistic colours representing a selection of local flora, fauna and landmarks specific to the Lynnmour community and area. The ~620 powder-coated aluminum panels have been carefully configured to produce a giant site-specific spectrum designed to be viewed by both passing traffic and residents in nearby communities.
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Panels: FORSTER. Waidhofen, Austria
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Panels: FORSTER. Waidhofen, Austria
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Panels: FORSTER. Waidhofen, Austria
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Panels: FORSTER. Waidhofen, Austria
MERGE (Lynnmour Sound Wall) Panels: FORSTER. Waidhofen, Austria
Maple Ridge Community Mosaic: Colours of Maple Ridge
The colours used for the new Maple Ridge Community Mosaic are inspired by the colours of the local Maple Ridge landscape.
Using posters, Facebook promotions and the Instagram hashtag #mapleridgecommunitymosaic we invited community members to submit photographs of their favourite seasonal colours.
Over the Fall of 2018 we received ~150 beautiful images.
From these landscape photos we created a new colour palette for the custom mosaic tile glazes.
More to come…
TTC Sherbourne: All Aboard! “The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts”
On 08, Nov 2018 | In infrastructure, Make, News, Place, Project | By Admin
After two long weeks at the end of October 2018, working through day and night, we are very happy to announce that “The Whole is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts“, formerly referred to as the Sherbourne Station Community Mosaic, is complete and open to the public at TTC Sherbourne in Toronto, ON.
We are very proud of the finished artwork. “The Whole is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts” is a series of 39 ceramic tile mosaic panels located throughout TTC Sherbourne station at the main entrance, Bloor Street concourse, both East and West bound platforms, and the Glen Road Concourse.
Sherbourne Street Concourse.
Each panel is a blend of geometric patterns that we collected from over 450 people from the local neighbourhood at a series of 24 community workshops held in March and April 2018. Kindergarten children to senior citizens who contributed over 700 unique triangle patterns to this public art project and this project is dedicated to them and the vibrant communities that merge together every day at Sherbourne station.
Pattern-making workshop at the Toronto Public Library St James Town Branch, March 2018.
We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Csaba Bereczki, proprietor of The Tile Setter Company, and his assistant, Marthonee ‘Kim’ Padua, for their tireless effort and professional dedication to making sure that we completed the installation on schedule. It was a near-super human feat and we couldn’t have done it without you!
Csaba Bereczki, proprietor of The Tile Setter Company (right), and his assistant, Marthonee ‘Kim’ Padua (left)
Rebecca priming the columns on the Sherbourne Street Concourse.
After priming the subway tile walls and skimming with thinset, the first sections of the 39 panels are adhered to the Westbound platform.
After every stage of the installation each panel was covered for protection until complete.
Rebecca reviewing the plans.
All work around the main Sherbourne Street entrance had to be completed between 2am and 5am while the station was closed.
Csaba laying the last tile section in thinset.
With a six-car train passing every 4-5mins, working in an active subway station was a challenging environment.
Midnight snack in the storage room.
David removing the face tape from a mosaic on the Sherbourne Street Concourse level.
Rebecca striping the masking tape bordering a mosaic on the Westbound platform.
Csaba and Kim grouting the mosaics at the Sherbourne Street entrance.
Csaba and Kim giving the mosaics a careful wipe down before the final completion.
David and Rebecca with Csaba Bereczki, proudly presenting the completed artwork to representatives from TTC on the final day of installation.
The Sherbourne Station Community Mosaic public artwork was commissioned by the Toronto Transit Commission as part of the Easier Access and Second Exit Program.
Newly Planted: GIANT
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
On 13, Jun 2018 | In Inspiration, Make, Place, Project, Research | 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.
TTC Sherbourne: Community Workshops
On 09, May 2018 | In infrastructure, Inspiration, Make, News, Place, Project, Research, Space | By Admin
Over three weeks in March and April, 2018, we led 24 community pattern-making workshops at seven different venues located within a 5-10 min walking radius of TTC Sherbourne Station. We met with approximately 450 local community members, from kindergarten children to senior citizens, who contributed over 700 unique triangle patterns to this public art project. We are amazed!
Check out all of the pattern design galleries on the Sherbourne Station Community Mosaic Facebook page!
After a brief introduction to the project, participants were invited to create their own triangular patterns by arranging colourful cardboard tiles on special templates. Twelve different colours reference the bold palette of Tom Thomson, a famous Canadian painter who once had a studio in the nearby Rosedale Ravine. When completed, every pattern was photographed and catalogued, and the individual or group of artists were given the opportunity to provide their name to be included on the public artwork plaque as a contributor.
Later this year, ceramic tile mosaics will be installed at multiple locations around TTC Sherbourne Station. The mosaics will be assembled from custom-made tiles, manufactured in Canada from recycled glass. Each tile will be twice as large as the cardboard tiles used in the workshops.
The final mosaic pieces will be inspired by the patterns collected from community members. Parts of individual patterns will be woven together to form new and complex patterns representing the creativity and interconnectivity of the local community.
We greatly appreciate the hospitality, enthusiasm and support that we have received. We would like to give special thanks to those who assisted in hosting the workshops: David Crichton, Rose Avenue Junior Public School; Shabana Sohail, Community Matters Toronto; Simon Storey, Rosedale Junior Public School; Allyson Payne, Branksome Hall School; Suja Selvaraj, St. James Town Community Corner; Suzanne Fernando, Toronto Public Library – St James Town Branch; Rick Lee, Wellesley Community Centre; Jaymie Sampa, 519 Space for Change. Individual pattern-making participants will be acknowledged on a plaque that will be located near the station entrance.
The Sherbourne Station Community Mosaic public artwork has been commissioned by the Toronto Transit Commission as part of the Easier Access and Second Exit Program.
Calder Community Mosaic: Grand Opening!
On March 1, 2018 we were delighted to attend the Grand Opening Ceremony for the new Edmonton Public Library’s Calder Branch. It has been three years since our proposal to create the Calder Community Mosaic was selected by the Edmonton Arts Council to become a piece of public art to be integrated with the architecture of this new construction.
Representatives from the City of Edmonton, the Province of Alberta, Edmonton Public Library Board of Trustees, Six Nation Elders, the Edmonton Arts Council and the people of all ages from the local community gathered for dedication speeches, ribbon cutting (complete with over-sized scissors) and a special Calder Branch cake.
We were very pleased to present the Library with copies of the book publication that we had prepared that describes the community participation in the Calder Community Mosaic and how it was created and installed. Please ask the branch librarian if you would like to see a copy.
yegarts.tumblr.com/post/170321112348/timeless-connections-the-calder-community-mosaic
Calder Community Mosaic: Installation – part 5. Finishing Touches
The Calder Community Mosaic was designed to fit the entire wall of the Community Room, just inside the main entrance of the new Calder Branch Library by MBAC Architects. Illuminated by special lighting above the artwork and also open to the daylight through the floor-to-ceiling windows that wrap around almost the entire exterior of the LEED® Silver building, the mosaic is clearly visible from the street and library forecourt. 
After a year and a half of preparation, the Calder Community Mosaic was given a final wipe, polish and an inspection and then it was finished!
In the first weeks of 2018 the Edmonton Public Library will take occupancy of their newest branch and complete their fit out of the space. Stay tuned for an official opening date in the New Year!
Our thanks to Craig Lemiski from Ellis Don for keeping us all safe on his construction site. His team has done a great job building the new library and it will be a public space that the whole community will be proud of. We also would like to thank the support and assistance from Robert Harpin, Andrea Bowes and Eva Marie Clarke from the Edmonton Arts Council.
This project is supported by the Edmonton Arts Council on behalf of the Edmonton Public Library and the City of Edmonton.