Artist Statement:

In 2007, the Rideau Canal, linking Lake Ontario with the Ottawa River, celebrated its 175th anniversary and was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. 

In the 1820’s while the canal was under construction, photography was not available, however a civilian employee of the canal project, Thomas Burrowes painted a series of watercolours that are in the collection of the Archives of Ontario.  I chose one of these paintings that was rendered from a point just below the present Chateau Laurier Hotel looking at the recently completed lower locks at the Ottawa River.

In the foreground I have placed a worktable and easel upon which a Burrowes painting in progress rests along with paint pots and other tools of the trade.  To the left I have sculpted a reproduction of the engineer’s drawings of the locks and lock gate as drawn by Colonel John By that I found in the National Archives in Ottawa.  The tile itself is sculpted in stoneware clay, coloured with underglazes and fired to 2130 degrees F.