Studio #3

It became more resolved for me to somehow draw into rather than draw out from this place, particularly since the contents of the site were now largely absent. The lack of a focal point became part of the reason I wanted to work within this site. This chunk of natural woodland, previously protected for its conservation value was now encroaching on the unique selling point (referred to as USP) of the Toronto Brickworks. In order to improve visibility of the brickworks from the Belt Line Trail, a plan was devised to cut through a wide expanse of the woodland where a path already existed.

A few trees were designated to stay along the perimeter of the site, all metal-tagged in sequential order. Looking at the site, I sensed this ever growing tension between what exists here and what is shown to exist virtually on the map. I imagined the map's grid pattern acting as a giant filter, calibrating the grand scheme of things: orange line represents highway; blue dotted line for bicycle path, and Pantone Green 360 for woodland. But suppose one was commissioned to produce a map of the entire Don Valley area, from Highway 401 down to The Lakeshore: would this now absent woodland continue to be referenced using Pantone Green 360? At what point does the cartographer notice that this stretch of now absent woodland is extensive enough to warrant inclusion in the map?