GRACE NOTE
Ottawa, Ont.
Stick figure Photograph by Gayle Kennedy
I
t stands a full 100 feet tall, one spindly trunk bereft of not only its leaves but also its branches—solid enough at its hefty base but dwindling to an impossible wisp that disappears into thin air at its height. Crafted from rolled sheet metal and stainless steel, it could be the very antithesis of its bucolic setting on the tree-dotted Nepean Point, behind the National Gallery of Canada. Yet, even on the frosty grey day in December when this photograph was taken, its majesty invites pause and reflection. One Hundred Foot Line was created by New York artist Roxy Paine and is the tallest in his series of tree sculptures, called Dendroids, which explores humanity’s impact on the natural world; other pieces in the series reside in galleries in Sweden, Spain and at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. Installed one year ago, the work stands overlooking the Ottawa River, once a conduit for the lumber trade of the 19th century. It’s a fraught past that the monument recalls to visitors: the logging industry irrevocably changed the landscape, yet it was an essential part of Canada’s social and economic growth, and it brought into being a place called Bytown—later to be renamed Ottawa. —Carolyn Kennedy
One Hundred Foot Line, by Roxy Paine, is formed of stainless steel cylinders welded together. It stands without visible supports; its 5,216-kg weight is braced on a buried 10-cu.-ft. concrete slab.
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