National Travelling Exhibition

National Travelling Exhibition

The Great Canadian LEEDscape

Image Details: The Great Canadian LEEDscape on exhibit at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, photo by Jean-Michel Komarnicki

Shackleton's panoramic painting of Canada (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.

The Great Canadian LEEDscape at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington

Image Details: The Great Canadian LEEDscape on exhibit at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, photo by Jean-Michel Komarnicki

“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

Travel Map

The Great Canadian LEEDscape - Map

Featured Buildings

YT - Whitehorse Hospital Staff Residence, Whitehorse
BC - Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability , UBC, Vancouver
NT - Greenstone Government of Canada Building , Yellowknife
AB - EEEL Building, UCalgary and Currie Barracks Community , Calgary
SK - River Centre, Saskatoon
MB - Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg
ON - Centre for Green Cities , Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto
QC - La Maison du Developpement Durable, Montreal
NU - Iqaluit International Airport , Iqaluit
NB - Northrop Frye School, Moncton
NS - Nova Scotia Power Build ing, Halifax
PE - Jean Canfield Government of Canada Building, Charlottetown
NL - 351 Water Street, St. John's

Technique

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.

Project Video

Exhibition Catalogue

The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington published a catalogue to accompany my solo exhibition. The catalogue features an essay about my work written by curator Todd Tremeer. To view the catalogue and read the article, Future Narratives, please click here.

Exhibition Catalogue

Prints

I created a series of wood prints, which feature all 13 panels of my 53-foot-long painting of Canada. You can purchase your favourite province/territory, create your own multi-panel piece, or collect the whole series. To shop prints of The Great Canadian LEEDscape, click here.

wood print

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