City Daily Photo Theme Day: Teach

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and for September, that theme is Teach. You can see how others are interpreting the theme right here.

For this theme, I thought I would focus mostly on university campuses and architecture here in Ottawa, as we have several in the city. I'm starting with the University of Ottawa, which lies downtown in the Sandy Hill area. The university dates back to 1848, established first as a college by Joseph-Bruno Guigues, the Catholic bishop at the time, and rising to university status by 1866. It is the largest English-French bilingual university in the world.

I took a shot of this set of buildings in February while walking on the ice of the Rideau Canal, passing the campus. This is the STEM complex; it was still under final construction when I took this shot, but is due to open for the fall term. This is a centre for interdisciplinary studies in the faculties of science, technology, engineering, and math, hence the title.

Taken in March, this is Tabaret Hall, dating back to 1905, strongly contrasting with one of the newer campus buildings behind it, built just a few years ago.

This was taken one weekend in June. A large domed shelter structure has been erected in this area between academic buildings and the university centre.

Moving on to another institution, I took this in the latter part of April, in the Chinatown area. Dominican University College dates back to 1900 as a convent, then as a study centre for Canadian Dominican graduate students. Since 1967 it has had a civil university charter, and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral studies in the fields of philosophy and theology, with members of the priory serving as faculty. It has been associated with Carleton University since 2012, and includes a church within its walls. For a look inside, click here for my Doors Open visit this year.

On the last Sunday in April, I found myself up in the Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood. By chance my route took me past this campus. Ashbury College is an elite private school here in Ottawa, and this is its central building. Ashbury dates back to 1891, and has been here in Rockcliffe Park since 1910. Its students range from grades four to twelve.

St. Paul University stands in the Old Ottawa East neighbourhood, and is associated with the University of Ottawa. In 1965 when the latter institution was reorganized as a civil and secular organization independent of its Vatican origins, St. Paul was renamed, retaining the pontifical charter of its roots. A smaller university with around a thousand students, it offers undergraduate and graduate studies in subjects such as theology, counselling, philosophy, canon law, and social communications. I stopped by a few days ago. This view outside Guigues Hall includes a sculpture put up last year, part of the city's public art program that is included when a major street has its infrastructure massively overhauled- such as the case with Main Street, which this university is on, and which was finished last year.  Main Squared is the title of the work by Stuart Kinmond, evoking the area's spiritual institutions in its stained glass. The green bench beneath represents the land, while the two blue benches represent the Rideau Canal and Rideau Rivers, which form the east and west boundaries of the neighbourhood.

The de Mazenod Chapel is part of St. Paul's, located in Laframboise Hall. It was named after Eugene de Mazenod, bishop of Marseilles and the founder of the Oblates Of Mary Immaculate, the order from which both St. Paul's and the University of Ottawa rose out of. It is regularly used for services and other activities. When I think chapels, I think of small side chapels off the main area of worship- this one is the size of a conventional sanctuary.

I finish with these views taken in June at Carleton University, the last of the universities here in Ottawa.  Founded in 1942, it attained university status in 1957. Its campus has been here since 1952, nestled between the Rideau River and Dow's Lake at the north and south sides, and the Rideau Canal and Bronson Avenue on the west and east sides. This is a view of MacOdrum Library, which has had some modifications in recent years, including a new glass dominated front facade.

The campus has some art here and there, including here in the quad outside the library. Locavore is the title of a 2015 bronze sculpture by Mary Anne Barkhouse, a First Nations artist from the British Columbia coast. It takes animals that some might see as "irrelevent or bothersome", such as the western coyote and the snowshoe hare, and puts them in close proximity; they are "given pride of place and nature is never subservient to culture". Later in the month I'll show you another of her sculptures at a different location.

Within the library, wooden sculptures can be found near the entrance, such as this canoe set.

This abstract carving is titled Justice, by the artist David Fels.

Part of the library's renovations included the installation of a spiral staircase. This is the view looking up.