Public Art for Sandy Hill Park selected

The Search Committee for Public Art for the new Sandy Hill Park is pleased to announce that Marie-Josée Coulombe's Nymphéacée, or Nymphaeaceae, has been selected by a jury of experts as the winner in the Art in Sandy Hill Park competition.

Coulombe's piece includes a selection highly reflective chrome-coated aluminum groupings of this water plant in varying sizes and locations on the large south-facing wall of the Sandy Hill Community Centre, 250 Somerset Street East.  Floating two inches out from the brick wall, Nymphéacée will reflect "the urban and landscape environment of Sandy Hill Park, along with its historical and community features."  Visible from a variety of locations and elevations in this newly landscaped setting, Nymphéacée will provide viewers with the opportunity to reflect on their own embodied and active perceptions, on changes and movement in time and space, and on their relationship to their surroundings.  Nymphaeaceae contribute importantly to the oxygenation and purification of water, and thus to the rejuvenation of their environment.  Coulombe's reflective groupings are meant to evoke "the gathering of a community, and through its connection with others each element refers to the potential the individual offers to the collective."

Marie-Josée Coulombe, resident of Gatineau, has exhibited and installed extensively.  Her work is concerned with the relationship between perception, nature, and imagination and it explores these relationships through the motif of reflection.  She is a finalist in the Québec Order of Architect's 2009 Awards of Excellence for her installation Les ciels inversés at the Centre Jean-Besré in Sherbrooke, Québec.  Ms. Coulombe's Nymphéacée will be donated to the City of Ottawa upon completion of installation in late summer or Fall 2009, and will contribute a strong and poetic work of public art to the municipal art profile.

The Search Committee, a sub-committee of Action Sandy Hill, wishes to thank all City of Ottawa staff who have provided guidance and support in this joint Action Sandy Hill-City of Ottawa initiative.  This project could not have been realized without the organizational and fundraising efforts of Sandy Hill residents.  The committee wishes to acknowledge the support of the City of Ottawa, Claridge Homes, the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, and Councillor Georges Bédard's office.

Finally the Committee expresses its gratitude to all artists who submitted proposals and maquettes, and to the community members who brought this project to light, offered their time and opinions, and helped to make it a reality.