If you’ve been around the Carleton campus this fall you’ve probably become familiar with the sight of Stuart Kinmond’s public art piece “LocomOtion,” a tall band of red circles spanning the length of the campus O-Train station.
Nov. 5 marked the official unveiling of the piece, a milestone for its creator, it being his first public art commission.
LocomOtion was completed in spring 2015 as a response to a competition created by OC Transpo with the intent of implementing a unique piece of public art into the structure of one of the O-Train platforms.
Kinmond emphasized the openness of the contest in terms of concept.
“The artists were invited to select where to put the art. I chose Carleton because it was sort of mid-way along the line . . . And it is by far the busiest station. I liked the site because it was open and big and visible. Something attracted me to the site,” he said.
Kinmond described his process as both logical and creative. The artist said he aimed to change the Carleton station’s atmosphere while balancing the project’s budget with its large physical size. Kinmond said the location’s lack of architectural features made it a blank canvas.
“Circles came to mind because of wheels and transport,” Kinmond said. “I wanted it to look like something that has a sequence to it. I think mine is kind of tied in with the sense of movement, of railways, the OC Transpo logo, and by coincidence it includes one of the colours of Carleton as well.”
In terms of the experience of creating this piece and his personal relationship to it, Kinmond said, “It was my first public art commission. I was really excited to do a public art commission, so I basically spent the whole budget on the artwork. My fee was almost negligible.”
The red paneling is made of the same reflective sheeting as stop signs. This attention to detail is what makes Kinmond’s pieces his own.
“The city has talked about putting lights on it eventually. It will be a sort of beacon at night too,” he said. “My idea was that at daytime and at night, it gives visibility to the station, like a landmark of where the station is.”
