Meditation Piece

Photo: Ken McAllister

Sanctuary Building, EXPO 67, interior with Meditation Piece

Sanctuary Building, EXPO 67, interior with windows, no sculpture

Date: 1966
Size: H: 18" x W: 5' x D: 5' 6"
Weight: 1983 lbs.
Casts: 1
Form: Relief
Material: Bronze

Commissioned for the EXPO 67 Sanctuary Building on the EXPO site in Montreal, and cast in Eugene, Oregon. A challenging pyramid-shaped structure, Mayhew designed a horizontal “table” relief for the centre of the sanctuary. The piece was installed with bench seats on all sides for quiet meditation. Stained glass windows designed by Ernestine Tahedl shone shafts of coloured light. “Meditation Piece” is now permanently situated on the Rideau Canal, Ottawa (on the east side of the canal, beside Colonel By Drive).

Private notes written as Elza worked through her thoughts and concepts for the making of the Meditation Piece:

“Know what you mean to express first – Make it … without hesitating

I want it powerful – lyrical – tender able to dominate more space than it occupies … it should have the feeling of going to a simple well – a source of vital supply – something given simply, freely.

a tomb?

a vault?

It should be life and death – the whole range"