Cloudflower: Reflecting Community, 2015

Cloudflower: Reflecting Community was designed as a response to the community and use of the Cornell Community Centre & Library by considering the activities on each floor and pairing their respective energies with sympathetic images. On the lower floor, near the gymnasium and aquatic centre, the dynamic garden reflects activity; on the upper floor, near the Older Adult and Youth Centres, and the Multi-Sensory Room, a tranquil, distant cloudscape encourages a contemplative and calm mind.

Together, the murals represent the positive life and spirit found in the Community Centre. On the lower level, the assorted plant life suggests an organic diversity and inclusiveness in culture, ethnicity, health and age. Upstairs, the ethereal nature of the cloudscape suggests the collective spirit of the community. The image of trees and clouds speaks to the natural environment created by a community’s harmonic existence, while the garden of flowers becomes its physical presence.

In the past few years, in addition to continuing to develop his unique painting methods, Walker has worked exclusively in a blue and white palette conventionally associated with the colours that Delft potters employed from the 16th century onwards. This same palette was used in Chinese pottery and first appeared in Europe in the early 17th century. Walkers palette, appropriately developed for the diverse community around Cornell, has ancient origins and cross cultural traditions.

Artist Biography – Douglas Walker

Douglas Walker was born in Brockville, Ontario. He is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and his work has been exhibited widely including at the ICA in London, U.K., the Dia Foundation in New York, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Walker’s work is included in many public and private collections, most notably the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Mendel Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. Cloudflower: Reflecting Community is his first public art commission.

Location

The artwork is located inside the Cornell Community Centre & Library on the first and second floor walls.

Cornell Community Centre

3201 Bur Oak Avenue, Markham, Ontario

Photos