Public Art commission: Currents video display at Marketplace transit station, Ottawa (2011)

See acknowledgements at bottom of page.

Ottawa – May 25, 2011.

The Public Art Program is delighted to announce the successful implementation of Currents by Cheryl Pagurek. The permanent video installation is the first of its kind to enter the City of Ottawa’s fine art collection, and is unique to Ottawa as the first permanent exterior LED screen to feature uninterrupted video artwork.

Prominently featuring imagery of the Jock River, Currents maintains a link to the nearby body of water in an area of rapid urban development. Through the incorporation of historical images of the area, surrounding rural lands, and footage of contemporary city transit, Currents celebrates the surrounding environment. By locating the present site within a continuum, the video harkens to the past and preserves the present for future generations. The installation situates public transit within a narrative of progress while highlighting ecological appreciation.

Currents is mobile! To continue watching Currents on your mobile device as you commute, and for acknowledgements of historical image sources, visit https://cherylpagurek.com/currents/download.html

Central themes found in Cheryl Pagurek’s artwork investigate concepts of time, memory, history and the ephemeral quality of the disappearing past. A photo-based and video artist; Cheryl received her M.F.A. from the University of Victoria. Her work is featured in several collections including Foreign Affairs Canada, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Library of the National Gallery of Canada and the Ottawa Art Gallery.

 

Ottawa – September 2, 2010.

Local photo and video artist Cheryl Pagurek has been selected as the winner of the Market Place Corridor (Ward 22) public art competition. The proposed artwork entitled Currents employs the contemporary medium of video to embody the concepts of flow, movement, and community identity. A free-standing LED screen will house and display two synchronized videos of imagery of the waters of the Jock River, ensuring a link is maintained to the nearby body of water amidst urban development.

Currents celebrates the surrounding environment while commemorating times past through the incorporation of historical images of the area into the work. By locating the present site within a continuum, the video footage harkens to the past and preserves the present for future generations. The dominant unifying visual and conceptual theme will be the current, movement, light and reflections of the Jock River as it changes throughout the day and seasons.

The Public Art Program commissions artists’ works for display in public spaces. One percent of funds for municipal development projects is set aside for public art in order to enhance the unique character of the space giving it a sense of identity while ensuring that art is accessible to everyone.

The City’s Public Art program initiated a two-stage competition to integrate art into the Market Place Corridor. The surrounding community was given a preview of the submissions from four finalists and was asked to record their comments about the proposals. The art selection committee took these comments into consideration prior to the selection of the winning artist’s proposal. The project’s selection criteria included such things as artistic excellence, experience of the artist, site integration, reflection of the community and sustainability.

For more information about the new public art, visit ottawa.ca/arts or call
3-1-1.

In Situ

Video Stills

Mockups

Acknowledgements

The historical images in Currents were drawn from many sources:
Map of Nepean Township, Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Carleton, 1879, courtesy of the City of Ottawa Archives/ ALO 0034. Photograph of road gang at Monaghan’s, Fallowfield, Nepean Township, ca. 1880, courtesy of the City of Ottawa Archives/ MG177/CA-17000. Photograph of snow removal with two horse team and hand-held plow, ca. 1920, courtesy of the City of Ottawa Archives/ 38D85/CA-7588.
The following photographs appear courtesy of the Nepean Museum: Jockvale Public School, 1906 and 1889; The James Long Farm; Fallowfield Separate School #7; Fallowfield Churches on “Piety Hill”, Steeple Hill, ca.1910; Fallowfield Presbyterian Church (St. John’s).
The following photographs appear courtesy of the Goulbourn Museum: Cheese factory, ca. 1920; Team and wagon; Plowing with team of horses, 1930; Three women in a canoe, 1910’s; Joshua Bradley homestead, ca. 1890; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dawson binding; Ploughing bee, 1928; Spring ice break-up, Jock River, Richmond, 1920; Jock River flooding, Richmond, 1925.
The following photographs appear courtesy of the Canada Science and Technology Museum: Cultivating with horse-drawn equipment; Farmer sowing seeds with a horse-drawn seeder, 1927; Farmer driving a tractor in a field; Canadian Northern Railway steam Locomotive no. 74 and passenger train, ca. 1920; Loading cans onto Canadian Northern boxcar, ca. 1926; CNR Merivale flag station, 1969; CNR tracks at Twin Elm, 1971; CNR Steam locomotive 5304, ca. 1915; Train in snow, 1934.
Thank you also to these families with roots in the area for sharing their photographs: to Taylor Kennedy for the use of the Kennedy family photograph, 1909, as well as the 1929 map of the Jockvale area and anecdotes from Desmond Kennedy’s The Kennedy Story; and to the family of Bob Mann for the use of the photographs of Bob and his family, and the photograph of the cow-crossing that straddles the Jock River.
Thank you to Marsha and Spruce Riordon, and to Jim and Heather Fogo for allowing access to the banks of the Jock River from their property, and to Kel-Jo Farms, the subject of several panoramic views. Thank you also to Al Lewis and Bytown or Bust at www.bytown.net for local history, and to Dave Knowles for railroad history of the area.