Public Artwork
Pine Cones
Location:
Harbourfront Community Centre , 235 Queen’s Quay West, Toronto, ON, M5J 2G8, Canada
See map: Google Maps
Artwork creator(s):
Nind, Sarah
Text author(s):
Bouchette, Joseph
Installation year:
1997
Remarks on location:
Water’s edge promenade, Harbourfront park East of the Centre. The text runs orthogonally over the course of the site, from Queen's Quay at the North of the site toward the Canada Malt buildings at the South end of the site.
Description:
Text embedded in a sidewalk
Text of the artwork:
inlayed text
I STILL DISTINCTLY REMEMBER
THE UNTAMED ASPECT WHICH THE COUNTRY EXHIBITED
WHEN I FIRST ENTERED THE BEAUTIFUL BASIN.
DENSE AND TRACKLESS FORESTS
LINED THE MARGIN OF THE LAKE,
AND REFLECTED THEIR INVERTED IMAGES IN ITS GLASSY SURFACE…
THE GROUND
FOR THE FUTURE METROPOLIS OF UPPER CANADA WAS FIXED UPON.
stamped text
I STILL DISTINCTLY REMEMBER
THE UNTAMED ASPECT WHICH THE COUNTRY EXHIBITED
WHEN I FIRST ENTERED THE BEAUTIFUL BASIN.
BENEATH THE LUXURIANT FOLIAGE…
THE BAY AND NEIGHOURING MARSHES
WERE THE UNINVADED HAUNTS OF IMMENSE COVEYS OF WILD FOWL…
THE GROUND
FOR THE FUTURE METROPOLIS OF UPPER CANADA WAS FIXED UPON.
JOSEPH BOUCHETTE 1831
Text theme:
Early historical memory of Toronto (of the water basin which was to become the Toronto Harbour, and the site for "the future metropolis of Upper Canada").
History:
1. Collection the city of Toronto.
2. Installation of the artwork in summer 1997.
3. Promenade Public Art Competition, for City of Toronto, Planning and Development Department, 1995.
Note(s):
Order for the City of Toronto Public Art Commission.
The text, read from North to South, is inlayed cast bronze, while its reflection and related text is stamped (engraved) into the surface of the concrete, and read moving in the opposite direction, from South to North
Artist's biography:
Sarah Nind 
Syndicate
