Letters of Orillia

Orillia Streets Alive – Letters of Orillia 2013

Leslie Fournier, director of Orillia Streets Alive heads another exhibition/competition of street art in Orillia in the summer of 2013. The “Letters of Orillia” pieces were seven foot high plate steel letters, picked by sponsors of the artists. Each artist was responsible to work with their sponsor to co-create a piece that would be representative of the sponsor’s vision, as well as their own.

My sponsor for this project was Orillia’s then mayor, Angelo Orsi. Mr Orsi wished to work around the concept of a directional circle of life. The final concept was an adaptation of my knowledge of the medicine wheel in concert with the support and interconnectedness of community, expressed through the visual of hands. This project truly fed my soul.

“This year has been a challenging one for my children and I, and we absolutely could not have forged through it without the help of some amazing and generous hands. This is the visual that manifests when I think of being in service to one another. My interpretation of the concept I was working with for Mr. Orsi revolved around the idea of creating the kind of neighbourhood or community where each member feels this sense of being held in love and support.” ~ Kathryn Kaiser 2014