An “atmospheric” art exhibit that delves into a story about Coquitlam’s past added another layer last week with more text and artifacts.
Coquitlam, Canada — as the display at the Evergreen Cultural Centre is called — reveals a new dimension on the city’s first, second and third growth since Canada turned 100, in 1967.
In the exhibit’s second chapter, curator Gregory Elgstrand, the centre’s visual arts manager and a Coquitlam native, shows fragments that shaped the municipality as seen through the eyes of the fictional character “C.”
“C” wades into the exhibit time warp with a 1971 BC Centennial stamp as well as a mixed media piece from Karin Bubas called Sculpted Log, in recognition of the second-growth forest at Mundy Park.
As well, “C” sees copies of newspaper articles: the 1979 ribbon-cutting ceremony by then-mayor Jim Tonn to open Coquitlam Centre — where the focus of the city has now shifted — and the 2001 closure of Fraser Mills, once the biggest sawmill in the Commonwealth that spurred the development of Coquitlam.
“C” also sees an enlarged copy of a newspaper ad to market The Frontenac, which at the time it opened in 1991, was the tallest residential tower in Coquitlam at 12 storeys. Its salmon-coloured exterior and blue roof clashed with the surrounding natural landscape and the brick-clad mall, which a decade earlier had won an architectural award from the Governor-General of Canada.
But as “C” questions the city’s past, he/she is also wondering about the future with its urban sprawl.
With The Frontenac opening, the city’s French-Canadian history is also carried over into City Centre with its name and design style.
Coquitlam “doesn’t so much progress as much as it endeavours to reproduce itself,” Elgstrand writes in his exhibit notes. “It doesn’t reproduce whole by chunking out new versions of itself over and over but rather reproduces bits and pieces.”
This is also the time when “C” realizes how much — or little — time has passed in his/her hometown.
Meanwhile, for Chapters 3 and 4 of the show, which will be uncovered this summer to coincide with Canada 150, Elgstrand said he’ll include more news highlights that put Coquitlam on the map as well as unveil the impact of Riverview Hospital had on the community since Canada’s centennial.
• The Art Gallery at Evergreen (1205 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam) is open Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
