Community Sculpture

The New Face of Corporate Art

A sculptural installation to commemorate organizational change? Say what? It’s true: Sun Life Financial commissioned a piece of corporate art to mark its merger with Clarica Life Insurance. 

However, to its credit, Sun Life commissioned artist Carol Bradley and philosopher Tilman Lichter of The Pleiades Project to oversee the creation and installation of a truly collaborative sculpture. The result is an impressive work of art — SITE — that became a labour of love designed by Bradley and contributed to by more than 1,100 Sun Life and Clarica employees, members of their families and community partners. The process began with Bradley and Lichter interviewing employees and studying the Waterloo, Ontario, corporate building that dates back to 1912. SITE is an imposing work — 20 feet high by 16 feet. It is composed of steel, clay and glass. Bradley and Lichter started The Pleiades Project in  2001 to change the face of public art by blending an artistic and philosophical perspective. Artist Bradley says it is about transforming “the creation into a genuinely collaborative event, a shared community process.”  For philosopher Lichter, SITE “is a good example of a piece of art that could not have been made by one person. You see that as soon as you stand in front of it. No one person could possibly create the variety of ideas you see incorporated in this piece. And yet it all forms one cohesive whole. One work.” Pleiades, by the way, refers to the constellation of the same name and symbolizes the efforts of Bradley and Lichter to steer public art in a new direction.