We have some news to share!

For those of you who board/alight the Expo Line at Joyce–Collingwood SkyTrain station, a new piece of public art has probably drawn your attention.

This large hand-painted window called ‘Off Centre’ by artist Renee Van Halm has won one of the Creative City Network of Canada’s Public Art Year in Review prizes!

The artwork was commissioned by TransLink as part of a significant renovation program for the SkyTrain stations built in 1986.

Before the renovation

After the renovation

TransLink chooses artwork locations in a variety of ways. Usually, like at Joyce, we commission a public artwork as part of a facility renovation project. To select the art, we put together a panel made up of art experts and TransLink representatives, and they choose the art based on submissions received from professional artists.

Public art has long been an integral component in the development of successful transit systems. It helps to create a welcoming and safe transportation environment; it supports community integration of our stations, and encourages gathering places which help to reduce crime and vandalism.

Our public art program strives to support local talent, engage community and spark public dialogue about artwork as a vessel for communication.

The artist Renée Van Halm was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to Canada as a young child. She now lives and works in Vancouver after many years in Toronto, Montréal, and Berlin. Her work has been collected publicly and privately in Canada and elsewhere.

Click here for the full list of winners.

The name of the artwork, ‘Off Centre’, comes from the way that the artwork intentionally contrasts with the symmetry of the elevated SkyTrain tracks and with the architecture of the station house.

Upgrades at this station are currently underway

They include a new bus shelters

The Bike Parkade is now open!

Joyce–Collingwood SkyTrain station is one of four SkyTrain stations being upgraded in 2018 as part of the TransLink Maintenance and Repair Program. 13,800 customers use this station each weekday. Upgrades to the east stationhouse were completed in 2017 as part of the first phase of upgrades to the station.

Upgrades include:

• Replacing the existing escalator and elevator
• Providing better lighting and redesigned interior
• Extending the SkyTrain platform roof to keep customers dry
• Improving the pedestrian and cyclist path
• Delivering a new bus loop adjacent to east stationhouse

Have you checked out this amazing artwork yet? We’d love to see your photos (pssst… picture idea: the glass panels cast stunning shadows on the escalator beneath it!), so head on over to Instagram and share those images with us using #MyTransLink for our weekly commuter photo series where we sometimes have prizes too!

Author: Tanushree Pillai and Debra Rolfe