With Sheridan’s new brand comes new art

STORY BY JON D. CLARKE

Sheridan College officially launches its new brand Friday.

Interactive displays and other attractions will be featured, but the real headliner is a new addition to Sheridan’s growing repertoire of public art outside SCAET building, and the man behind it – a Sheridan grad.

“Sheridan really taught me how to build something. It doesn’t matter what,” said Pierre Poussin. “As a public artist, (the experience) was invaluable, really.”

Poussin, a 2006 graduate of Craft and Design: Furniture, has lent his talent to Sheridan in the past with Dancing Markets, a piece at Hazel McCallion Campus.

A creator of 10 pieces of public art to date, Poussin, 33, began his post-secondary education in biochemistry.

It took a year of science to tell him that his heart just wasn’t in it and that he needed to figure out what he wanted out of life.

Poussin dropped out of the University of Ottawa and travelled abroad.

He taught English in South Korea for a year and wandered south east Asia for 18 months more, all the while teaching himself how to draw objects in proper perspective and feeding his newfound love for illustration.

It all came to a head in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, where he spent two weeks meditating in a complex of 12 temples: he would pursue his passion for the art of furniture-making.

“I wanted to do something utilitarian,” said Poussin. “And in my head, furniture was the best place to learn that.”

That resolve would lead him home to Ontario, to Sheridan College and beyond.

“After I got back to Canada, I thought I’d have to go to Italy,” said Poussin, who though it was the only place in the world where he could learn the craft.

But he was in for a surprise, as Sheridan College also offered a course geared toward his goals.

After graduating, Poussin won numerous public art contests and had the opportunity to showcase his talent through many permanent street displays.

His biggest projects to date, said Poussin, were Flames and Fireworks Boulevard, two pieces of street art developed for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

He also won an international design competition for his Olympic work.

Flames was a series of LED lights stationed like lampposts around the city, each resembling the Olympic flame and leading spectators and competitors alike toward different events.

“The (Olympic flame) is for the people,” said Poussin, “so in a cheeky way, I brought them to the people.”

Poussin will unveil his latest piece Friday at Sheridan’s branding celebration.

Food and prizes will be given out in the main lobby of the SCAET building at Trafalgar Campus from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m.

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