Artistic surprises up, down, all around on Confederation Line

Whether you're embarking on yourmorning commuteor on the wearyjourney home, the folks who planned Ottawa's Confederation Line want you to pause and take in your surroundings. Chances are you'll be rewarded with an unexpected encounter of the artistic kind.

It may be a mural glimpsed from a passing window, a multi-coloured passagewayor an entrance adorned with silvery leavesit all depends on your perspective.

• City unveils public art along Confederation Line LRT stations

The city invested $7 millionto bestow a unique character on each of the new LRT line's 13 stations, and 22 artists from the area and across the country answered the call.

Look up, way up

To take in some of the stunning installations along the Confederation Line, commuters may need to tilt their heads up. Several of the commissioned artworks are displayed high above.

At Tunney's Pasture station, light streams through the huge, multi-hued skylight, splashing colour across the walls and floor.Vancouver artist Derek Root envisions hisRadiant Space as animating the daily commute.

"I really wanted to activate the environment with colour and texture," Root said.

A field of silver flowersdangles from the walkway overhang between Tremblaystation and Ottawa's ViaRail station, casting shimmering floral shapes underfoot.

Toronto artist JyhlingLee's said she wants herNational Gardeninstallation to change with the weather.

"The flowers will waver in the wind, create shadows on the ground," Lee said, standing beneath her garden in the sky.

"The piece will be constantly changing because of its capacity to reflect and take in the surrounding environment."

High above theplatform at Pimisistation, 100 hand-painted paddles hang arranged inthe shape of a canoe.

Mmawiis the work ofAlgonquin artist Simon Brascoup, who made sure each paddle tells its ownstory, drawn fromAnishinaabe culture.

Don't miss the vibrant ceiling at Parliament station,a cubist homage to Tom Thomson's iconic paintingThe Jack Pine,from artist and author Douglas Coupland.

A seat with a view

Some art isbest viewed from the comfort of your seat.

Local artist AdrianGllner's As the Crow Flies isan undulating installation of tubular steel and fencing best appreciated from a passing train at Bayview station. The 120-metre line drawing suggests the topography of the Gatineau Hills and rooftops of Mechanicsville as it mimics a crow's flightpath.

"It wiggles and warbles and goes up and down as you go in and out of the station," saidGllner, who hopes commuters can pry themselves from their cellphones to gaze instead out the window as their train rolls by.

"Maybe this will get their heads up," Gllnersaid.

A garden grows deep within the tunnels ofParliament station. Common plants and enduring weeds climb alonglaser-cut steel panelsdesigned by New Brunswick-based artist Jennifer Stead.

Stead hopes this injection of green will temper the concrete surroundings and remind travellersof the diversity that sprouts from Canadian soil.

"We're a growing country and we have people from everywhere, and they tend to get along," Stead said.

Unexpected encounters

First-time users of the LRT may be too busy getting their bearingsto take notice of the art that surrounds them, but it's there, sometimes in the unlikeliest ofplaces.

Subtle patterns line the escalators climbing the levels of Rideau station.The shape this takes to get to thatisToronto artist Jim Verburg's first attempt at a public art installation.

Verburg said he's thrilled to have his work displayed in a train station but said it's a completely different experience than gallery shows.

"It's kind of odd, because if it's an art show of my work, peoplewho go are very invested and they want to see it," Verburg said as he watched oblivious commuters pass by his muted arrangement of porcelain tiles and steelrods.

"You might not know it's an artworkat first," he acknowledged.

Glossy murals alive with the figures of man and beasttower over travellers onthe westbound platform at St-Laurent station. They're the workof Chelsea, Que., artistAndrew Morrow, and they tell stories that inviteclose examination.

In the light-infused environment of Blair station, glittering screens of glass hover alongthe stairwells and tracks,swaying gently as trains come and go.

Lightscape, awhimsical and imaginativeaddition to any commute, isdesigned bylocal artist cj fleury and Montreal-based Catherine Widgery.

According to the city, theartistswereinspired both "by the sunrise" and by the station's proximity to the National Research Council, just down Blair Road.