Located in the open public plaza, and suspended from the north wall of the elevator shaft, arboreus (after Rodchenko) consists of large, translucent glass panels painted with a digitally manipulated image of a giant, first-growth tree. The image quite literally reflects on the historic logging industry of Lynn Valley bringing back a ghostly image of the area’s original forest landscape. But, this could also be the tree of knowledge, located – appropriately – at the library, a place where new technologies for the transmission of knowledge often create a tension between reality and imagination. During the day this monumental glass slide responds differently to the shifting intensities of natural light, subtly transforming the quality of the image.
Sculpture - laminated glass, glulam lumber frame
About the artists:
Jacqueline Metz and Nancy Chew are visual artists who started working collaboratively in 1997. Nancy's background is drawing, print-making, curating and teaching while Jacqueline's is photography, archeaology and literature. These disciplines, crafts and processes conflate to create an art practice that is conceptual and abstract yet uniquely grounded in place.
