Deborah Putman likes a phrase used by the late Git’ksan artist Doreen Jensen: “we’re standing on the shoulders of our ancestors.”
It describes both the inspiration and the aesthetic sense of her design for her current project – a collaboration with ceramic and mosaic artist and potter Connie Glover.
Slowly but surely taking form in Glover’s South Surrey studio, like a giant jigsaw puzzle, the piece is an eight feet in diameter mosaic: Kwomais – A Place Of Vision.
Commissioned as a result of a call for artists issued last year by the City of Surrey, the public art work will be installed as a centrepiece for the planned meeting place at Kwomais Point Park.
It’s one that is bound to have resonance with the many cultures that make up the mosaic of Canada – from the First Nations people who originally identified Kwomais Point as an important spiritual epicentre, to the people of European and other heritages who have since recognized the historic former United Church Camp’s special appeal as a place of retreat and meditation.
The artwork draws intuitively on many of those cultures. Putman’s own sourcebook includes images from ancient sites around the globe, and the design has appropriated such universal elements as the “divine radiant eye,” and given nods to the stylization and muted colour palette of the Mediterranean mosaic culture of the Greeks and Romans, as well as including more overtly Canadian native flora and fauna – an eagle, a tree, a coyote and a whale, and symbology of the elements, earth, air, fire and water.
Celtic and African designs and First Nations petroglyphs have all played a part in the inspiration, Putman points out.
And the depictions of the animals have gained texture, flow and movement from choice of different shapes of tile segments – all of which are cut out painstakingly and arduously by Glover using a wet saw and other cutting tools.
“Connie’s our textural expert,” says Putman.
The result is an extraordinarily rich piece that will work on a variety of different levels, from sophisticates who will wish to ponder the symbolism of circles of life, to more casual viewers who may let it draw them into reflection, to children simply content to say, “Look, Mommy, a whale.”
That idea delights Putman and Glover, who have found that, far from the least among the serendipitous elements of the project, is the discovery of an ideal partnership.
Putman, well-known on the Peninsula as a painter, has found a joy in symbolism and spiritual cross-cultural connections, while Glover has extended her aesthetic over the last 12 years from pottery to gaining a new perspective through the realms of mosiacs and public art, including well-received projects in Newton and Whalley.
While they’ve long moved in the same artistic circles, this is their first formal collaboration. It likely won’t be their last.
“Deb and I have a great time together,” Glover notes.
“We’ve worked together on such shows as the (Larger Than Life Group’s) Surrotica, but this is our first project together. Deb’s great on design, and I’m strong on the technique of cutting and working with tile. I’m saying that one and one equals three.”
“We complement each other in strengths and personalities, and if we’ve got a problem, we work on it,” Putman adds.
Both aware of the call for artists put out in August, they decided to team up for a joint application – for which they created a series of designs and colour and material samples, as well as a glass-tile maquette.
“We did the presentation on Oct. 20 and heard the next day that we’d got it,” Glover says.
“We’re so grateful to have the opportunity to create this experience for people,” Putman adds.
“It’s such a beautiful location,” says Glover, noting that the light and shadow at the site will create a whole new – and ever-changing – ambience for the work.
That’s the only hiccup in what seems to be a blessed project – there’s no clear indication of when the finished work will be installed.
While they should have the work ready for cementing to a base board by the end of March – and subsequently divided up on grout lines for transportation and seamless reassembly – the original installation date of August may be put back because of redevelopment of the site.
It all hinges on the city’s planned reworking of the Marine Drive-128 Street corner at the entranceway to the park, Glover explains.
And her experience with setting outdoor mosaics tells her that unless it can be completed in the summer, installation may have to wait until next year.