The Heart of the Airport
The Spirit of Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe
Year: 1994
Artist: Bill Reid
Dimensions and Materials: Bronze cast, 2.2, jade green patina | 6.05 x 3.89 m
Terminal: International
Level: Level 3
Security Access: Before security
Often described as the Heart of the Airport, this acclaimed sculpture was inspired by nineteenth-century miniature canoes carved in argillite, a soft sedimentary rock that is found near Skidegate on Haida Gwaii. As with many historic examples of miniature canoes, this vessel is crowded with creatures and beings, their identities drawn from legends and oral histories of the Haida, and their forms energetically and sometimes fiercely interacting with each other in the manner of rivalrous siblings. Originally conceived and created for the new Canadian embassy in Washington D.C., it was installed in YVR to welcome visitors to the world.
The Great Wave
Year: 1996
Artist: Lutz Haufschild
Dimensions and Materials: Glass | 10 x 40 m
Terminal: International
Level: Level 3
Security Access: Before security
Ever changing with the light and seasons, this dynamic glass wall depicts the power and strength of the ocean along British Columbia’s rugged coastline. Thousands of 2.54 cm-wide strips of float glass were cut and assembled to enable the various tints that create a seascape in which large waves are rolling towards the viewer and an imaginary shore and to relate, symbiotically, with Bill Reid’s monumental sculpture The Spirit of the Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe.
Welcome Figures
Year: 1996
Artist: Lutz Haufschild
Dimensions and Materials: Glass | 10 x 40 m
Terminal: International
Level: Level 3
Security Access: Before security
Ever changing with the light and seasons, this dynamic glass wall depicts the power and strength of the ocean along British Columbia’s rugged coastline. Thousands of 2.54 cm-wide strips of float glass were cut and assembled to enable the various tints that create a seascape in which large waves are rolling towards the viewer and an imaginary shore and to relate, symbiotically, with Bill Reid’s monumental sculpture The Spirit of the Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe.