Client: AC Hotels by Marriott

Overview

The AC Hotel in Vancouver, WA is perched on the Columbia River and is the first modern hotel in the city’s emerging waterfront area. As part of the hotel’s extensive art collection, the curators at Indiewalls commissioned me to create two double-sided glass wall sculptures for the 7th floor prefunction and meeting rooms; a diptych consisting of two 25″H x 40″W panels which would eventually be entitled “Mocha Mirrors” and a 30″W x 39″H solo piece entitled “Gunmetal Mirror”. The conceptual design employed in both sculptures is inspired by the ancient philosophy of Yin and Yang. With a canvas consisting of triangular bars, the design creates three distinct views; one side is predominantly dark and shiny, the opposite side is lighter and matte, and when viewed head on, the two sides reflect themselves and harmonize.

Goals

The AC Hotel brand is known for reflecting the souls of the cities in which their hotels reside. For AC Vancouver Waterfont, this meant bringing the natural beauty of the Columbia River and surrounding mountains indoors. Indiewalls sought to achieve this goal by curating artwork that would incorporate accents of porcelain, wood, stone, and glass paired with natural color palettes and abstract, naturalistic forms. My designs were chosen for the way in which the silvered water glass creates dramatic reflections that suggest sunlight shimmering on the river's surface.

Process

Once rolling, the production phase on this project was relatively quick (about 4 weeks), but the designing phase leading up to that took some time. Even when the pieces were officially contracted with concept approval and funding, the color palettes had yet to be dialed in. Materials samples were sent to DLR Group in Minneapolis to match up with their finishes, yet extensive back and forth between artist/curator/design team followed. It wasn’t until details of the interior design elements were disclosed that I was able to fully understand the overall direction of the space and offer up a palette that felt spot on to all of us. With the final details approved, I proceeded with constructing the canvases and hand cutting the glass. After all 69 of the glass triangular bars were constructed, they were edge sanded, and then finally affixed to their canvases. The crated mosaics then journeyed from my NYC studio to Vancouver where they were flawlessly installed by a local team.