National Military Cemetery

It is Remembrance Day today, and I will be mostly offline, attending the national ceremony and visiting the War Museum. Back in April, on Good Friday, I visited two cemeteries in the Vanier area, east of the downtown core, and did a series on both of them. Beechwood Cemetery is a designated national cemetery, 160 acres of quiet graves, with prominent figures of local and national history buried here. It also features two sections that are designated as a National Military Cemetery. This is the newer section, and feeling that it was ideal for today, I placed these shots here.

Flags oversee the stretch of graves, and a cenotaph stands between them. There will be ceremonies here today in addition to the national ceremony at the War Memorial. The graves, laid out in the style of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which has operated since the First World War, are (or will be) final resting places for those who have served in the military, with allowance for one additional family member to be buried with them.

A Finale To MosaiCanada

Something that I noticed in visits during the latter half of the MosaiCanada exhibition was a hands on explanation of the work that goes into these topiaries, placed near the end of the exhibition. A swan sculpture was half done for demonstrations, with the woman speaking about the techniques of topiary sculpture. The frame is designed and set up first, with soil packed in around the interior irrigation system and framework, and from there, partially grown plants and flowers are inserted, roots and all, into the soil.

On The Trail Of The Algonquin People depicts a First Nations family in the construction of a birchbark canoe.

As I did in my last series, I paused here to look back through the trees to The Voyageur.

Coming out near the end, we have another view of the train.

Odyssey And Hope is the last of the major sculptures, a mother and colt pair of horses by British artist Heather Jansch. She works extensively with driftwood, and combined with the flowers that are in common with the other installations, this made for a fitting finale to the exhibition.

Though there was something else beyond it. This is titled The Station Garden, a tradition first found in Britain, but commonly used by railways across Canada in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries as a way to show incoming settlers of what could be grown in the area. I imagine the notion would have caught on in American stations during that period as well. Flowers were mixed here with vegetables and herbs in a pleasing pattern. I do have some additional shots of the event coming up during more fall colours posts later in the month. I hope you have enjoyed this look at MosaiCanada. I certainly loved my numerous visits to the exhibition.

The Legend Of Aataentsic

Here are more perspectives on the topiary sculpture Mother Earth: The Legend Of Aataentsic, with the animals rising up around her. She was quite a highlight of the event. I mentioned when I started this series about music or sounds being included with some of the sculptures. That was the case with this one; I distinctly remember one very appropriate melody on one such visit- this cue from John Barry's score for Dances With Wolves.

The Creation Of The World

I did a guest post over at Molly's blog yesterday for Remembrance Day commemorations, so go on over and have a look.

A Journey Through The Imaginary Of The First Nations is the final theme for MosaiCanada, and it starts with a wide view.

Wisakedjak And The Creation Of The World tells the Anishinaabe version of the world's creation, with the destruction of the world as it was before, and its renewal through animals.

Born With The Sun is the next one, and it concerns itself with the First Nations idea of metamorphosis from human to animal form.

This one is taken on a different visit, but from another angle of this work.

The largest of these topiaries is Mother Earth: The Legend of Aataentsic, which depicts animals such as bison, horses, deer, bears, caribou, moose, and the eagle springing up to life around a woman. The animals, taking up a vast amount of room around her, are life sized or bigger.

The Journey Through Time

The next thematic area at MosaiCanada was titled A Journey Through Time, showing historic, sports, and cultural aspects of the country. It begins with In Flanders Fields: The Poppy, Symbol of Remembrance. This reflects the end of the First World War and the way the poppy has become interconnected with commemoration after John McCrae's poem.

Jos Montferrand, A Giant From Gatineau pays tribute to a man of fact and legend, Joseph Montferrand, a lumberman from the Quebec side of the river who became the subject of many a tall tale.

The Voyageur reflects the long tradition of the frontiersmen who carved paths through the North American wilderness in search of trading opportunities.

The Winning Goal, Summit Series '72 captures the climactic goal of the 1972 Canada-Soviet Union hockey series.

Remembering Glenn Gould depicts a piano for the Canadian classical pianist on a big scale- with the accompanying chair having shortened legs, just as Gould preferred.