Public Art for Terminal Building Expansion

Artist: Robert Wise - Terminal Building Rotunda/Arrivals Hall

Robert Wise had his first car at age three, and worked as a plumbing and electrical contractor by four. Rockets, Popular Science magazines and homemade contraptions of every kind were early influences on his work. After a brief attempt at becoming a technologist, he returned to Victoria and started Waterglass Studios, where he worked for ten years. During this time he studied art at the Victoria College of Art and the University of Victoria. His work is informed by an interest in modernist design and a lingering attraction to technology that he can understand.

A wind vane on the roof will be mechanically connected to the rest of the sculpture in the Terminal Building Rotunda. The mini-van sized, inflated element will seem tenuously supported by a cantilevered, graphite spar. Any change in wind direction will cause the sculpture to slowly sweep the volume around the tree creating abstract coloured images on the floor and walls.

In an age when most of us are alienated by technology beyond our comprehension, this work invites a reassuring glimpse into Leonardo's world.

Artist: Linda Stanbridge - Terminal Building Passenger Waiting Lounge

Born in Glasgow Scotland, Linda Stanbridge now works out of her studio in Victoria and has been exhibiting her work across Canada and Internationally for the past fifteen years. Her work has been represented by the Douglas Udell Gallery in Vancouver since 1991.

Stanbridge's art practice has grown out of an interest in geometric structures and the dynamic of optics as experienced by the viewer.

The impetus behind the idea for the Airport public art proposal is a celebration of the harmonic structure found in nature.

Stanbridge has chosen the seashell to represent the harmonic proportions reflected in growth patterns evident in the world of plant and human life. The spiral form of the shell is mirrored in the structure of galaxies, the swirling patterns of weather and in the structure of the universe itself. The shell, as well as being universal, is also very particular to our geographic locations, our Island on the West Coast and the area surrounding Victoria. Within the artwork exists a focal point, that being the shell's central spiral, alluding to a place of arrival and departure. The lines on the surface of the artwork recall mapping, or lines of latitude and longitude. They also make reference to the fourth dimension time in that they trace the biological growth of the organism.

Stanbridge commends the leadership shown by the Victoria Airport Authority for including a public art component in the new Victoria International Airport Terminal Building. As an artist, she would like to see more integration of the visual arts into our public spaces, it is a great opportunity for artists to share their ideas and enrich our communities, and she hopes it will continue to grow.