Dawn by Rebecca Belmore
Daly co. was very privileged to work with renowned artist Rebecca Belmore in the creation of her public work - Dawn, to be installed as the first new artwork in the expansion of the National Art Centre of Canada. At the inception of this project, Rebecca had a small maquette that embodied the concept of her work, and we were asked to help develop the “wood tree” component which would stand 30’ tall. She wanted the tree to feel as if it was pulled from nature, with a sunbleached surface and stood up at the NACC. Given that we couldn't use an actual tree, we had to figure out how to recreate the appearance and make it shippable in parts so it could be made and Vacnvouer and assembled in Ottowa. The story of the tree embodied a coast-to-coast message, inspired by the great pines which grew on the St. Lawrence. We used a combination of Sitka Spruce (West) and Eastern Pine (East), and laminated in segments together to create the components that would ultimately come together into a final form. This project required a high degree of tolerance as the final appearance of the tree was to appear seamless. Working with James Spouler and Hone workshop, we developed a production method that involved taking the 3D geometry and breaking it down to parts that could be cut and carved on the bed of a 5-axis CNC. The CNC gave us a rough form to work from, and from there we worked the rest of the tree by hand, shaping the branches, and giving the surface a textured finish that would give the wood an aged look while highlighting the grain. Daly Co. ended up taking on the responsibility of developing the structural drawings in collaboration with Aspect Engineers, which included the metal work that would be fixed to the substructure to support the pole and the armature that would allow the 1000+ copper cones to be suspended. Upon final installation of the wood components, each segment was blended together and a final coating was applied to give the tree its silvery appearance.
Year | 2022 | |
Location | Ottowa, Canada | |
Client | National Art Centre of Canada | |
Collaborators | Rebecca Belmore, Aspect Engineering, James Spouler, Hone Workshop | |
Support | Brother Jopa, Dean Bennet, Leila Berg | |
Work | Design, Build, Install |