Public Art

city.block.stop is a pub­lic art­work com­mis­sioned by the Win­nipeg Arts Coun­cil.

The Shel­ter incor­po­rates reclaimed slate and sand­stone from Wes­ley Hall at the Uni­ver­sity of Win­nipeg with steel, glass, Tyn­dall lime­stone, Mari­ash Lime­stone, local mosses and plants.

The sculp­ture is fab­ri­cated from an 8 ton block of Tyn­dall lime­stone bal­anced on point and fea­tur­ing an adapted car­tog­ra­phy of the rivers of Win­nipeg. The Red, Siene, and Assini­boine Rivers each inde­pen­dently remain true to their orig­i­nal con­tours, but the map is cor­rupted by the form of the cube, and the removal of land­mass required to wrap the rivers around the cube.

All images of city.block.stop appear cour­tesy of Robert Tin­ker

“Nous rêvons de can­ots volants / We Dream of Fly­ing Canoes” was carved from an Amer­i­can Elm Tree killed by Dutch Elm Dis­ease. The Dodem (Clan Sig­ils) depicted on the trunk of the tree are drawn from the “Selkirk Treaty of 1817” and serve as a per­ma­nent acknowl­edg­ment of the indige­nous ances­tral lands on which the sculp­ture was erected. Cur­rently in progress is a video com­po­nent, linked to the sculp­ture plaque, that will present First Nations and fran­coph­one sto­ries involv­ing fly­ing canoes in their orig­i­nal lan­guage (where pos­si­ble).

Images of “Nous rêvons de can­ots volants / We Dream of Fly­ing Canoes” Cour­te­sey of Dan Harper

Public Art