Ask the water references the glacial processes that have shaped the mountain landscape surrounding the Town of Banff and the cycles of life created by repeated glaciation. Impressions of the surface of the Athabasca Glacier were cast in glass by the artist to capture the surface character of glacial ice on a microscale. The glass and Kootenay stone sculpture brings rarely seen impressions of the Athabasca Glacier to Bear Street to visualize a moment in the glacier’s evolving geological lifespan. ask the water offers people in Banff an opportunity to reflect on their surroundings in relation to the Rocky Mountain ecosystems that surround them.
Tiffany Shaw is a Métis architect, artist and curator based in Alberta. Oscillating between digital and analogue methodologies Shaw’s work gathers notions of craft, memory and atmosphere. Her practice is often guided by communal interventions to engage a lifted understanding of place. While born in Calgary and raised in Edmonton, Shaw’s Métis lineage derives from Fort McMurray via Fort McKay/Fort Chipewyan and the Red River.
Shaw has exhibited widely including the Architecture Venice Biennale, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Pier 21, Agnes Etherington Art Centre and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. She has been the recipient of multiple public art commissions such as Edmonton’s Indigenous Art Park and Winnipeg’s Markham Bus Station. Among her public art projects Tiffany has produced several notable transitory art works and is a core member of Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective.
COMMISSIONER
Town of Banff Community Art Committee
LOCATION
Address with (Bear Street map with drop pin of location?)
PUBLIC ART CONSULTANT
CMCK Public Art
PROJECT ADVISORS
Angela Schenstead
FABRICATORS
Carvel Creative
Firebrand Glass Studio
MATERIALS
Glass, Kootenay stone, stainless steel
PHOTOGRAPHY
Chelsea Yang-Smith
