Share to
entre les lignes
By : Eric Sauvé
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 15th edition
Discipline : Art & Photography
Categories : Art Projects / Artwork - Public Space : Gold Certification
Saint-Isaac-Jogues School in Montreal, public art.
For the vestibule at the entrance to the elementary school service, I wanted to create a work related to the place that would reach all the users, whether they are the school students, the staff and the residents of the community who frequent it. The title between the lines, a work that reflects the passion and spontaneity of childhood and highlights the school as a place of exploration and fulfillment.
Long aligned maple wood slats climb the wall of the entrance before unfolding in the air space where they arch in large sinuous curves. Each board then draws its own route. The different courses are underlined by bands of different colors on their edges. One of the lines continues to the exterior wall, where arches (this time in painted metal) emerge from the wall and add a connection between interior and exterior.
The main lines are inspired by the overflowing energy of children, to visually capture their passion, their desire to explore. A dynamic balance settles between the lines with unique curves. Like a community – a class, a school, a district – where the development of each contributes to the strength of the whole.
Students, staff and passers-by can follow with their eyes these slats in freedom which draw in the space of the entrance the discoveries of childhood.
By choosing wood as my main material, I draw on the world of the Nordic game – the bending of wood in our skis, toboggans, hockey sticks – and of the school – the gymnasium floor, the wooden rules – to create a work rich in playful and school associations. The organic forms of the work also evoke the branches of a tree, recalling the origins of the material.
The colored lines, associated with the values of the school, also evoke those found on gymnasium floors. It is between the lines that we play, between the lines that we find the deep meaning of a text, and between the lines of the work that the gaze and the thoughts of the pupils wander.
