TTC Public Art Commission, Toronto

Corian, CNC cut, Polished, 2016, particles adhered directly to tiles

Scott Eunson

Commissioned through an open-call competition for the Toronto Transit Commission.

The Ossington Particles public art installation is composed of a number of arrangements that populate the tiles of the station walls, creating an organic texture that references history, growth and movement. Numbering approximately 800 pieces, the Particles are individual sculptural units that gather and cluster into patterns using the grid of tiles as an organizing system from which to follow or deviate.

Ossington Station was excavated from the sandy soil that was once a beach on the shore of Glacial Lake Iroquois. It lies in a landscape that was populated with hardwood and White Pine forest until several hundred years ago. Small, branching streams drained to Garrison creek, which is represented in the pattern for the eastbound platform entry wall.

The Particles act as an informal way-finding system, responding to the need for visual cues to navigate the station, hinting at paths and giving the spaces a sense of flow and visual interest.