ArtCity is a ten day festival of visual art, design and architecture. The Peepshow project is an initiative of ArtCity to develop alternative venues for showcasing works of art. Each year, architects and architecture students are invited to submit designs for a portable, reusable pavilion that may be situated in any public space in Calgary, inserting art into spaces where art might not usually be found, and giving people the opportunity to experience art in a very non-traditional environment.

The Water Pavilion was designed by Neil Freeman and Catherine Kim. It is built of laminated sheets of tempered glass hung on an aluminum frame and shelters a cedar dock which sits just above the water in the Olympic Plaza wading pool in downtown Calgary. The pavilion is 8 feet tall by 8 feet wide and 16 feet long (not including the cedar dock).

When I was asked to submit a proposal for the Water Pavilion, Calgary and the rest of southern Alberta were in the depths of a severe drought. Water use was heavily restricted. It seemed that there might not be any water surrounding the Water Pavilion. I wanted to create the presence of water where there might not be any and a reminder of the preciousness of that most elemental requisite for life. In the end, the wading pool was filled, but the rain was still sorely wished for.

prayer consists of two components, the first being a mosaic image made up of twelve thousand nine hundred and seventy two glass tiles. The tiles were generously supplied by Interstyle Ceramics Ltd. of Burnaby, BC. Each tile is not stained glass, but clear glass with a coloured glaze on the back. Unlike stained glass, which would appear dark in direct light, the tiles reflect vivid colour when seen from outside, yet the coloured glaze is translucent enough that the colour can be seen from inside as well.

Each of the three panels that makes up the piece consists of tiles sandwiched with a 3M sheet adhesive between two 8 by 4 foot sheets of tempered glass. The whole sandwich is framed with aluminum. Each panel weighs roughly 200 pounds. These three panels replaced three of the south-facing panels on the pavilion.

The second component of the piece is a short poem which was installed on the outside of the north-facing wall of the pavilion. There was one line of poetry on each of the four glass panels, applied in grey vinyl lettering.

The wall opposite the mosaic was a double wall with halogen lights in between. At night the pavilion became a block of white light floating over the water. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the mosaic side of the pavilion, but it also transmitted light so that the image was visible at night.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, the time available to complete what should have been a six month project was compressed into six days. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of stress involved in getting it done, but it did get done. However, I didn't pull it off; I and a small army of generous friends pulled it off.

I would like to thank, a thousand times:

Joy Borman, Shane Clintberg, Claire Cummings, Deegy Dalong, Candace Elder, Peter Flemming, Neil Freeman, Paul Jackson, James Jensen, Heather Keddie, Catherine Kim, Karen Neudorf, Louisa Olafsen, Colleen Rauscher, Lissa Robinson, Brett Snyder and John Torvi.

In particular I think I owe some internal organs to Shane and James who went way above and beyond the call.