A Mischief of Could Be(s)
2023
Ceramic tile on polymer-fortified concrete sculptures.
11’ x 12’ x 7’
Churchill Square, Edmonton, AB.
Commissioned by Edmonton Arts Council.
2025 Creative City Network of Canada Legacy Public Art Award.
2025 Edmonton Urban Design Award of Excellence - Urban Fragments.
A playful family of five standing mosaic sculptures created for the Edmonton Civic Precinct. Designed as a space for children to imagine, explore, and invent stories, these gestural forms lean between the familiar and the fantastical. They stand like a small forest of bold and joyfully strange objects, inviting visitors of all ages to linger, touch, play, and wonder.
Community Engagement
The artwork was shaped through extensive engagement with the people who would use the space the most: children and families. We held creative workshops and conversations with dozens of children and tested preliminary concepts with the community. These creative explorations provided us with invaluable insights and became the conceptual backbone of the art concept. The process also inspired the name: A Mischief of Could-Be(s), as a gathering of possibilities and a celebration of what things could become when imagination leads.
Concept
Each sculpture holds a shape that is suggestive but never prescriptive: tree-like forms that could just as easily be tentacles, snakes, fingers, coral, roots, or imaginary creatures yet unnamed.
This openness is intentional. Instead of telling viewers what to see, the sculptures create openings for individual imagination to complete the artwork. Children immediately understand this; they transform the space into a forest, a cave, a stage, a gathering place, or the setting for a story only they can see. Adults follow their lead, rediscovering a sense of curiosity and childlike wonder.
We sat down to talk about how we created A Mischief of Could Be(s) and UGO for the Civic Precinct. If you’re curious about the process, check out the interview!
The video was made with the support of 1844 Studios Inc.
Commissioned by the Edmonton Arts Council.