The Great Canadain LEEDscape was featured in a travelling exhibition across Central Canada (2017-18) including Evergreen Brick Works (Toronto), Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (Bowmanville), THEMUSEUM (Kitchener) and Maison du développement durable (Montreal).
Five years in the making and spanning over 50 feet, The Great Canadian LEEDscape explores the ongoing transformation of Canada’s natural and built environments. It consists of thirteen panels, one for each province and territory in Canada. The regions are positioned from west to east, according to the longitude of each capital city. Leading examples of sustainable architecture (LEED certified buildings) are combined with neighboring trees, mountains and waterways. In recognition of Canada’s sesquicentennial, this painting examines Canada’s changing urban landscape and suggests what the future could hold.
Using squeeze bottles filled with liquid paint, The Great Canadian LEEDscape was built from the ground up with hundreds of lines and dots. Shackleton manipulates where and how each drip will fall by working with gravity and spinning her canvases. As in real-life construction, the architectural details are calculated, measured and controlled in order to assure precise locations of each line. As in nature, the environmental elements are more spontaneous, unpredictable and liquid.
“This is the most ambitious painting of my career in both scope and scale. It has demanded extensive research, Canada-wide travel and a larger studio space. I spent time in every province and territory to photograph landscapes and hunt down buildings that were developed with nature in mind. I walked on sea ice in Nunavut. I braved -35°C in Manitoba. I hiked mountains in Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Yukon. The multi-year process has been a labour of love and I couldn’t be more excited to share it in my first ever traveling exhibition!” - Amy Shackleton
To read the exhibition catalogue produced by The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, click here.
To shop prints of The Great Canadian LEEDscape, click here.