Ode to Ashes
Ode to Ashes by Jill Anholt is one of over 36 public artworks on display across the City of Mississauga.
Jill Anholt, 2025
Painted steel, painted aluminum, stainless steel, aircraft cables
Carmen Corbasson Community Centre, 1399 Cawthra Road
About the artwork
Ode to Ashes is an active, playful and dynamic landmark for the Carmen Corbasson Community Centre in Mississauga. Ode to Ashes honors the memory and experience of the rapidly disappearing Ash Tree. The work captures the unique characteristics of this important local tree, including its changing colours throughout the seasons and the experience of its leaves gently fluttering in the wind.
Ode to Ashes is an intergenerational artwork that creates a link between the past and the present, seeking to pique memories of seniors from the center next door and sparking curiosity in new generations.
Gallery
About the artist
Jill Anholt is an artist based in Vancouver, Canada whose practice includes commissioned environmental and sculptural installations, and collaborative design team projects for public spaces across North America. She has received national and international awards for her practice, and her artworks, independently and as part of integrated design projects, many recognized for their innovation and successful role in place making and community building.
Jill’s work explores the intricate and often overlooked connections between natural ecosystems and human-made structures. Her creative process involves extensive research and careful observations gleaned from both natural and urban environments that she synthesizes into layered, multidimensional works that invite human engagement, encouraging viewers to see themselves as part of a larger, integrated ecosystem rather than separate from it.
Jill’s work and practice have been featured in national and international publications including The Wall Street Journal, Interior Design Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Art, and Sculpture Magazine. Jill has a diverse education that includes Sculpture, Architecture, and Human Sciences.
Through an open call to artists, the City’s public art program invited professional artists and artist teams to submit credentials and expressions of interest. Submissions were evaluated by an independent art selection committee and three applicants were shortlisted and invited to develop proposals.
The art selection committee was comprised of individuals with expertise in visual art, architecture, curatorial practice, arts education, lived experience, and knowledge of the local neighbourhood. The art selection committee selected Ode to Ashes based on the selection criteria.
This artwork was commissioned in celebration of the Carmen Corbasson Community Centre Redevelopment. Photography by Adam Pulicicchio.