Orenda     2000 - 2001

Toronto Public Art Commission, CityPlace, Block 21, Front Street, Toronto, ON

The stainless steel leaf of the sculpture Orenda is representative of the salix nigra, black willow tree, indigenous to this site. Orenda is an Iroquois word which means place of energy, suggesting the conceptual joining of the leaf as protective canopy and the bridge as passage. The sculpture, in referencing the Iroquois, also suggests the passage of time, evoking reciprocal energy from the earliest cultures that used this site to the cultures that reside here today.

The site is bounded on Front Street by a stainless steel fence with a laser-cut willow leaf design. Large granite boulders, graced by fallen willow leaves of stainless steel, are placed in the centre courtyard and the side gardens.

Title, Medium and Dimensions

Willow Leaf Wrapping Skywalk, Stainless Steel, 4.6 m h x 24 m length x 4.6 m w
                                                       
Laser-cut Fence Panels Willow Leaf Design, Stainless Steel, .6 m h x varied length

Laser-cut Leaves, 1.2 m length x .6 m w

Granite Boulders, 1.2 m h x 2.4 m w x 1.5 m d (approximate varied)