public artwork location 

Fabrication and Prep for the Bleecker Co-op Memorial Project

Making the bear "cartoon" for custom tile fabrication in Bleecker Co-op's ceramic studio.

A team of five artists -- Tristan R. Whiston, Anna Camilleri, Henry Campos, Katie Yealland, and Chantelle Gobeil -- worked on fabrication for two very exciting and labour intensive weeks in order to prepare for opening the studio to community contributors on January 29.

Clay slab fabricaton.

 The 24 piece cartoon is labeled so that nothing is lost in the collaboration between the mixed media (carpentry, wood, paint, mosaic) studio and the ceramic studio.

Cutting glass tile.

After the MDF boards were sealed and cradled, the scaled grid was rendered to guide wood construction and carpentry.

A Weldbond dilution (1 part Weldbond to 5 parts water) was used to seal and prime all wood.

2000+ glass gems were treated with paint and clear coat to produce custom colours.

Building level 1.

Our colour and materials palette.

Thinking about next steps.

Planning for the integration of level 3, which is being produced in the ceramic studio
under the leadership of Henry Campos.

400+ particle boards screws and Weldbond were used to build a stable (and non-porous) structure.

Bleecker Coop Memorial Project: The Design is Unveiled

untitled, Anna Camilleri, 2012, 10" x 32", paper on birch bark

We had a great meeting on Thursday January 12, 2012. More than 30 community members came out to view and offer feedback to the design. It's an exciting moment in the life of a project. In a community engaged art context, design "unveiling" is the culmination of conceptual development and arts-based research with community members over several months. 


To briefly review our path, we met with community members, staff, and directors from October to December. Together, we told stories, brainstormed ideas, motivation, visual motif and themes, and then we moved beyond talking. Using simple materials and techniques, we explored visual expressions for our ideas.  We also looked at the space that the work will ultimately live in, and discussed function, space use, and other site-specific environmental and architectural elements. This development process was -- and is --anchored by our goal: to create a large-scale artwork through collaborative processes that memorializes our beloved founding manager Diane Frankling in this 20th year of Bleecker Coop's proud and inclusive community.

detail

As the artwork suggests, the mosaic we're about to begin building is more of installation than mural; the work is dimensional with high and low relief elements that we'll build in layers. The images below are technical drawings, presented here in their fabrication order: level 1 supports level 2, and level 3 is supported by levels 1 and 2. We viewed them on a light table (one on top of the other), which reveals the design and structural fabrication in its totality. 

Technical Drawing Level 1, (c) Anna Camilleri, 2012

Technical Drawing Level 2, (c) Anna Camilleri, 2012

Technical Drawing Level 3, (c) Anna Camilleri, 2012

Artwork Site, Bleecker Street Cooperative lobby

The mosaic installation will span the wall as pictured, on both sides of the opening. Actual artwork dimensions will be 10'x4' and 3'4"x4'.


We'd like to acknowledge the community members, staff, and directors who contributed to the conceptual development of this design. Thank you for your support, wisdom, openness, and creativity. 


We gratefully acknowledge the support of the citizens of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, and the Cooperative Housing Federation of Toronto.


Tristan and I would also want to recognize our stellar team:


Enrique Campos | Ceramic Artist
Katie Yealland | Photographer and Technician
Heidi Cho | Community Artist
Chantelle Gobeil | Associate Artist
Ryan Hayward | Coordinator
Andrew Henderson| Intern
Dominique Grant | Apprentice
Dorian Johnson | Youth Leader
Emily Jones | Youth Leader


We look forward to seeing you in the studio: the doors open on Sunday January 29, and the first of two ceramics workshops will be led by Enrique on Tuesday January 17. The complete schedule is posted here (and on the Bleecker Coop Memorial Project link at the top of this page)! 


Everyone is welcome. No experience is needed and all materials are provided. 


--Anna Camilleri, Lead Artist

      OPEN STUDIO SCHEDULE

DATE TIME Tuesday January 17 ceramics workshop 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. Sunday, January 29 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Monday, January 30 ceramics workshop 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. Tuesday, January 31 5 p.m. – 9 pm. Saturday, February 4 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Monday, February 6 LOBBY studio 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday, February 9 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Sunday, February 12 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Wednesday, February 15 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Thursday, February 16 LOBBY studio 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday, February 18 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Monday, February 20 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Wednesday, February 22 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Sunday, Feb 26 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb 28 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Friday, March 2 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. Saturday, March 3 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Monday, March 5 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Thursday, March 8 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Sunday, March 11 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 13 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Thursday, March 15 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday, March 17 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Creating Legacy: Designing for Past, Present, and Future

We've now had several community meetings with Bleecker Coop members, directors, and staff, and many  ideas have been generated through creative explorations of motif, movement, positive and negative space, colour, texture, and abstract and representational elements. 


What had been initially been conceived as a two-dimensional mosaic mural, has grown into an environmental site-specific installation that will include a large-scale mosaic mural, and modular sculptural weight-bearing works. The progression of not only the concept but also the expansion of form and disciplinary modalities are attributable to the creative and aesthetic capacities of the Bleecker Coop community. 


Legacy often refers to the tangible or material evidence or "product" of a project or combined effort. We've been thinking for several months now about the other stuff -- that which can't be measured; the residual or "soft" stuff in community engaged creative endeavours -- and how to understand and more deeply cultivate this. 


At Bleecker Coop, we have the tremendous opportunity and honour to directly experience the fruits of our labour over time. We worked with community members on two previous large-scale mosaic projects (in 2006 and 2007), and it is this history of creating together that engenders confidence and openness in contributors to bring a wealth of ideas to the table, and explore those ideas through various mediums. On this project, we've heard folks say i/we can and i/we will more often than we've heard i/we can't. The creative capacity of the community here is a great part of its legacy, and for this, we acknowledge and remember Bleecker Coop founding manager Diane Frankling who stewarded and nurtured this cooperative and its communities in ways both large and small; tangible and residual. 


We look forward to continuing in the New Year with ceramics workshops lead by Enrique Campos (where we'll fabricate some of our tiles), and to the design unveiling and vetting meeting on January 12, 2012. 


In the meantime, I've posted a few images that invite you into my process of stewarding the progression of a design that emerges from our arts-based research with community members. 


We've often been asked: How do you steward the progression of a design working with ideas, motif, and art experiments that community members bring to the table?  The short answer is this: if you scroll down (or search blog entries tagged Bleecker Coop Memorial Project) you'll see a direct relationship between the design and its path. You'll see abstract and representational elements of Dorian's trees, Ali's bear, Liliana's woven collage, Kate and Heidi's orbs, Tristan's constellation,  Enrique's lines flowing from a bear, Irene and Minda's vertical columns, Gary's ambers and golds, David's forest, Joe's waters, and Emily's gingham pattern.

Experiment 1, Anna Camilleri, paper mounted on birch bark, 14" x 8"

detail

I've chosen to experiment and think about relief elements in mosaic by weaving and layering paper.

Design Unveiled!! Sherbourne Health Centre Community Engaged Mosaic

Welcome to our gallery of images from the Sherbourne Health Centre Mosaic Project.

Over the past two months, we've met with more than 100 clients, program participants, staff, and board members of the Sherbourne Health Centre. Together, we've brainstormed, told stories, and made art with a range of materials including oil pastel, mixed media, and foam plate printing on fabric and vellum. Through this arts-based participatory research, themes and visual motif emerged.

As lead artist and designer on the project, I took away these notes, images, and the spirit of community members who were clear about their desire to reflect themselves and the centre and its programs, along with the hope that the artwork would welcome people to the centre. After much reflection, midnight snacking, and more research, I began sketching.

Last night we presented the design to a group of 20. Tristan gave an overview of our approach, process, and our findings at 11 arts-based community consultations, and I presented a slide show featuring a selection of visual work produced by participants. Then we revealed the design! I'm delighted and relieved that folks loved it. Designing in a community engaged context is a big responsibility, and a tremendous honour.

As you scroll down the page, you'll find a series of design illustrations. The mosaic will be comprised of 7 separate (but thematically connected) panels that will be built in the Sherbourne Health Centre during the months of April, May, and June. Each of the panels will be 8 feet tall and 2 feet and 2 inches wide, separated by 1.5 inches each--integrating architectural elements into the design. Each of the panels may be viewed and interpreted independently, however they will create one large public artwork. The photos posted here are digitally compressed. The actual illustrations are 6.5 inches wide, and 24 inches tall. These dimensions are based upon a 1 to 4 ratio: each square inch of illustration is equivalent to four square inches of mosaic. The scaled design facilitates the transfer of the illustrations to cement boards, which we will build the mosaic on with anyone who would like to join us.

We hope to see you in the studio. Hours will be posted here shortly. Everyone is welcome!
Thanks for reading and viewing.

--Anna Camilleri

* * *
Red Dress Productions artistic leadership team includes lead artists Anna Camilleri and Tristan R. Whiston, and apprentices Heidi Cho, Rafaela Vidinha Dominici, Daniel Jelani Ellis, and Jay Stewart.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Sherbourne Health Centre, the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and the Neighbourhood Arts Network. We'd also like to thank our Working Group Committee members who've contributed to and supported the project in many different vital ways. Special thanks to Clare Nobbs.

Sherbourne Health Centre is an urban primary health care centre serving the diverse communities of southeast Toronto since 2003. Sherbourne Health Centre seeks to reduce barriers to care by taking a comprehensive approach to primary health care. Services include health promotion, education, research, community development and outreach, and advocacy. Sherbourne Health Centre serves all of the diverse communities of southeast Toronto with a special emphasis on local residents of south-central Toronto, homeless and under-housed individuals, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community, and new Canadians. To find out more about Sherbourne Health Centre and its programs and services, please visit http://www.sherbourne.on.ca

Design for Sherbourne Health Centre Community Mosaic --Panel 1

Panel 1 of 7.

Design for Sherbourne Health Centre Community Mosaic

Panel 1 of 7, details.

Design for Sherbourne Health Centre Community Mosaic

Panel 1 of 7, detail.

Design for Sherbourne Health Centre Community Mosaic -- Panel 2 of 7

Panel 2 of 7.

Design for Sherbourne Health Centre Community Mosaic -- Panel 3 of 7

Panel 2 of 7, detail.


Panel 3 of 7.

Design for Sherbourne Health Centre Community Mosaic -- Panel 5 of 7

Panel 5 of 7.

Design for Sherbourne Health Centre Community Mosaic -- Panels 6 and 7

Panel 6 of 7.



Panel 6 of 7, angle.


Panel 7 of 7.