The Heart of the Airport
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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 securityOften 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.
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The Great WaveYear: 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.
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Welcome FiguresYear: 1986
Artist: Joe David
Dimensions and materials: Red cedar | Male 3.3 x 1.2 x 1.1 m; Female 3.0 x 1.1 x 1.1 m
Terminal: International
Level: Level 2
Security access: Before security
Carved in the Clayoquot tradition of the Nuu-chah-nulth people, these welcome figures are based on those that would be placed on the beach in front of a village or a big house to greet guests invited to special events. Each figure is designed to look out to sea, arms raised, palms facing upward. The male figure wears the traditional knobbed hat denoting a high-ranking personage, possibly a whaling chief. The female figure wears the common domed hat. Both wear an apron-like garment traditionally made from the shredded, beaten and woven inner bark of the cedar tree.