09/05/2025
A project that was in the works since spring 2024 has come to completion.
It was an absolute pleasure working with everyone involved in this project from Jacques Desilets who turned the wood to Christopher Davidson who represented the city with humour and class. And, most importantly, the families of Trend-Arlington who participated in creating the designs that I amalgamated for the wings.
Here is the statement from the city of Ottawa:
New Public Art: Rewilding by Jennifer Anne Kelly
This public art installation focuses on the positive future for rewilding the Trend-Arlington community following the devastating storm of 2018. Representing the year of the storm, 18 butterflies are suspended from the Trend-Arlington Pavillion in celebration of community and regrowth.
A community collaboration day in Spring 2025 resulted in a vibrant assembly of paper cutout butterflies from which the designs for the steel wings were amalgamated; the reclaimed wood, saved by community members after the storm, was formed into the butterfly bodies.
Rewilding is the practice of reintroduction, strength and resilience – characteristics demonstrated by those calling the Trend-Arlington community home.
