Taddle Creek Park
Toronto, ON Canada
Installation date Fall 2010.

Commissioned by the City of Toronto.
5.7m high Stainless Steel Sculpture with Water Feature.

I have created a large sculpture of a water-carrying vessel made from 4 kilometers of stainless steel rod. The length of the rod is the approximate distance that Taddle Creek ran from Taddle Creek Park through downtown to Lake Ontario. I have reconstituted a memory of the buried creek by referencing its length and bending the steel rod into water-carrying arteries that form a vessel. The sculpture’s surface is porous, allowing one to see glimpses of the light that slices through the stainless steel rods that create its volume. Water will flow from the top of the rim of the vessel over its surface and then cascade onto the ground plane, creating sound that drowns out the noise of traffic. The piece will create the impression of an over flowing pitcher, evoking the creek’s long history as a source of sustenance. Water flowing from the Vessel will be stored to irrigate the park.

Vessels have accompanied all peoples for millennia, and are often seen as a surrogate for the body; the desire of all civilizations to anthropomorphize the form of water-carrying vessels is evidence of their importance to our survival as a species. The ability to harness the flow of water has been an inseparable part of the evolution of all societies both for physical and imaginative nourishment. The Anishinaabe Nation or Ojibway-speaking people of the region would have drawn water for sustenance from many sources, including Taddle Creek. They also drew inspiration from water in the development of their creation myths, one of which says, "the rivers that run underground are the veins of Mother Earth and water is her blood, purifying her and bringing her food. Mother Earth implies reproduction, fertility and life."

At a height of 5.7m, the vessel is an elegant three-dimensional drawing that derives its form from the creek’s length. Although the sculpture represents a container, it also acts as a fountain, relating the creek’s historical significance as a life-sustaining water source to the future pleasure of the community.

Ilan Sandler 2008