Carnegie Centre

Each ICON sprouts in my photography. An ICON is approximately two years of process — from concept to completion

I carefully draw out a graphic silhouette by hand. After detailed study I choose which adornments to include — taking particular interest in ones that can be missed by a passerby on the street

Next I extrude elements from the building’s “face”. This period in process feels like an extended ballroom dance. There are twists, turns and dips — I go back and forth, and back again. I aim to leave plenty of space for the typography — which I consider the entry point for a viewer — and still include enough of each ICON’s definitive decorative elements. I’m humbled when viewers recall a personal dialogue or history with an ICON. To allow for this, I’m compelled to ensure familiarity

I select a quote after boulevards of research. I learn from this meditative and often lengthy time in process. Ultimately my choice offers an emergent playfulness between the quote, or the quoted, and what each ICON outwardly presents — rather than be a quote about the ICON itself. Sometimes it complements, sometimes it counters. Sometimes in humour. Sometimes in critique

Each letter in each composition is unique — hand manipulated as a self fashioned typography. For colour I created the blue exclusively for the limited edition — suspended among Arctic, Cerulean, and Sapphire. It speaks to the hue we discover anew — each time the clouds lift — in the high latitude low angle light of Vancouver’s shockingly alluring sky. The three hints of clouds are a fun unifying feature across this series. I use their placement to convey the perceived presence of each ICON relative to a viewer from the streetscape

I created my ICON Carnegie Centre with intention to bring architectural attention to Vancouver’s most economically disadvantaged community. I would offer any Vancouverite to take a slow walk…the architecture of Hastings, Cordova, Princess, Pender, Powell, and Hawks streets will reveal as much about us as an outward looking nation as any other Canadian city can reveal

I’ve made two versions of my Carnegie. A framed print of this first version, in colour harmony with my limited ICONS series, will be donated to the Carnegie Centre for fundraising. 25% of my own sales of this version also go towards their programming goals