For the first time in 47 years, Joyce Wieland’s monumental quilt Barren Ground Caribou (1977-78) has left Spadina subway station 

“Barren Ground Caribou is a continuation of the ecological theme in my work… [It] expresses aspects of the public’s growing awareness of their environment and its preservation. A subway station is an obvious place to make an offering to nature.” – Joyce Wieland, 1975  

Picture this, if you can: Toronto in the mid-1970s. Like Montreal and New York City, it’s a burgeoning metropolis that necessitates rapid expansion. To meet the moment, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) plans for nine new subway stops reaching north from the city’s core, each station to include public art commissions by Canadian artists.  

Toronto born and raised, Joyce Wieland (1930 – 1998), was one of these selected artists. For her commission, the renowned artist chose to locate her artwork at Spadina subway station’s unassuming Kendal Avenue entryway (a late 19th-century house repurposed by the City). Measuring a massive nine meters long and two and a half meters tall, Barren Ground Caribou (image at top) is the largest quilt Wieland ever made, extending the width of the two subway tracks beneath it.  

In her 1975 proposal to the TTC she wrote, “While running towards the lower level to catch a train in a subway, one is confronted with a depiction of a group of Barren Ground Caribou in quilted form. Like prehistoric beasts, they are placed in the modern technological cave of the subway. (Altamira) Let us remember these marvelous beasts before they are no more.” 

READ MORE in this week’s Foyer, linked HERE