Insights / Inspiration

Art is powerful. It has the capacity to inform, inspire, influence, motivate, and stimulate. It can evoke a range of emotional responses, create a feeling of community and connection, and has the potential to forever alter our lived experiences. When art is the center of attention and attraction, at a gallery or exhibit, we expect to be impacted, and for the effects to resonate with us long after we have left the room. However, it is when this impactfulness occurs in unexpected spaces that truly underlines the significance and importance of art. “Art changes our perception of space. It changes how we understandv and interact within it,” notes Eric Yorath, Principal at Figure3. “Working alongside talented consultants, Figure3 considers how art can encourage and facilitate different ways of thinking, while shaping the environment around it.”

As a fundamental pillar of cohesive design, the integration of art in the workplace can be used as a tool to reflect a company’s ethos, values, and culture; while simultaneously eliciting a multitude of feelings, including that of focus, enthusiasm, or excitement. Working alongside artists, designers, and clients alike, Emily McInnes’ goal as an Art Curator is to select pieces that will achieve a cohesive brand story, while complementing the form and function of the physical space.

Harnessing the power of art is a creative process fuelled equally by design expertise, industry knowledge, and a little bit of intuitive magic. While workplace designs often favour function over the fanciful, McInnes sources or commissions artwork that satisfies the requests of both the client, and the office design itself. By exploring the context of where the artwork will eventually live, McInnis is given clues to piece together the perfect artist, medium, and final product that will complete and elevate a workspace.

To further cement a company’s core values, the visual representation of brand identity through art can be applied, while simultaneously igniting spaces with a sense of whimsy. For example, the architecture, design, and artwork that fill the Figure3 designed 25,000 square feet of space for the Great Gulf & First Gulf headquarters at the Globe & Mail Centre convey urbanity, creativity, sustainability, and community. “We needed to tell the story of how they respect nature through sustainability, innovation and construction,” explains Suzanne Wilkinson, Principal at Figure3. In addition to the artwork created from geological data capturing the Toronto Harbour by artist Joy Charbonneau, the most notable piece is a sculpture by Robert Cram. Situated at the end of the boardroom gallery stands a deer cast in brass with mechanical air duct coils wrapped around its body. This piece purposefully prompts an emotional response, and serves as a conversation starter reflecting the responsibility of human interaction within nature.

Besides bolstering brand identity and subconsciously communicating core values, art can be grounded in historical, architectural, and cultural influences. In consulting with the Menkes team for their newly renovated and Figure3 designed Toronto Headquarters, the narrative for the artwork was built around the directive of Toronto itself. “The Menkes family cares about culture and art, and it shows,” shares McInnes. For what would be a large selection of pieces, the intention was to curate a collection which would reflect the style of many contemporary, emerging artists, while breathing energy and emotion into the office. McInnis sourced and commissioned pieces with infusions of colour, so the spaces would feel uplifted, vibrant, and would feel good overall to connect with and work beside.

Mcinnis considers the artists themselves when pairing pieces with spaces–who they are, where their inspirations come from, and how that aligns with the work the client is doing. Much like the Menkes family, emerging artist Jessica Thalmann is deeply inspired by the architecture found in Toronto’s urban core. As a photographer and sculptor, she carries an innate sensibility for texture, form, and light. In the site-specific commission for the Menkes art collection, Thalmann captured the white fluid wave-like balconies designed by Peter Clewes, by imprinting archival pigment prints on folded steel. Approaching from one angle the piece appears black and white, but as you pass and turn around you are greeted with a burst of full colour. Similar to how light would be reflected on the actual building during the changing light through the day, this unique construction encourages interaction, as altering your physical perspective to the piece in turn alters your visual experience as well. The connections with building, references to architecture, and the vibrancy all connect back to who Menkes is, and how they want employees, clients, and guests to feel when navigating their office space.

People are passionate and care deeply about the work they do, so when a company chooses to enhance their space by investing in art, it feels like a show of appreciation, receiving that energy from staff and distributing it back into the physical space for all to enjoy. For the installation of art in the new AGF Headquarters, it was important to represent the physical and sentimental transition of moving the company into a new space; morphing the traditional with the new through innovation. It became clear to McInnis early on that the best way to represent this passing of the baton would be to commission a singular artist to create a custom piece, nodding to the past with reverence while looking forward to the future. The result: an impactful, 30 foot by nine foot landscape-inspired painting by Steve Driscoll, which sits opposite the impressive view from the office. The physical proximity of this piece makes a call to art imitating life, generating a feeling of a seamless and all-encompassing art moment. “To be able to experience, essentially, a mini museum of curated pieces in the workplace can feel very special,” reflects McInnis. “I’d love to see more companies appreciating how impactful it is to dedicate thinking towards putting a curated collection into their space.”