Client: Rebecca Baird

Overview

As part of its Queen St. Redevelopment Project, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health launched the Therapeutic Art Project. Donor funded, it sourced 10 structurally-integrated installations. Artist Rebecca Baird’s installation entitled “All My Relations” is in the main lobby of the Crisis and Critical Care Building.

Goals

Consisting of a mural and sculpture, Eventscape was contracted to engineer, fabricate and install the seven “satellite” sculptures that suspend from the ceiling in front of the mural. The glass hand-blown globes were supplied by the artist team, with Eventscape engineering the attachments and building the metal bodies.

Process

There are a total of seven satellites in different dimensions. 2 @ 5-feet diameter, 2 @ 4-feet diameter and 3 @ 3-feet diameter. Each sculpture consists of a central metal sphere machined from solid aluminum in two different sizes – 5” diameter and 7”diameter. Using the artist supplied 3D model, the Eventscape team mapped a series of attachment points around the outside of the aluminum spheres. These points would be machined to accept the threaded stainless steel rods that extend out to the globes. One of the challenges Eventscape faced was how to safety attach the metal rod to the glass. This was solved by creating custom 3D-printed plastic bushings that isolate the glass from the stainless steel.

The spheres and rods were powder coated different colours to match the artist’s specification. With a total of 167 rods, all in different lengths and colour, each piece required precise tracking. To suspend the satellites from the ceiling, Eventscape installed rigid stainless steel rods of various lengths that connected to a coupling nut at the finished ceiling. Each satellite required assembly on site as it was impossible to transport them fully assembled without risk to the delicate glass globes.

Additional Information

The “All My Relations” installation has already been extremely popular with guests to the hospital. The CAMH staff have commented: “…absolutely stunning! Whenever I take someone on a tour, it’s the one area where people just want to stop and take it all in. It’s an incredible piece that I know will bring joy to many.” “(it is) so stunning and impactful it generates gasps when folks enter”. Eventscape is proud to have been part of this important project. The new buildings opened for care in November, 2020.