The Flora Arcana is an interactive art installation celebrating Ontario’s native wildflowers and plants. It consists of eight 8’ tall and 4’ wide floral paintings designed to look like cards in a tarot deck. The names of each plant in English, Latin, French and Anishinaabemowin or Cree are included. The goal is to evoke a sense of curiosity about each plant, in a magical and scientific sense. As if we were looking at pages from a beautifully illustrated textbook about botany, but one that was living and floating off the page, larger than life.
The Flora Arcana installation is motion activated. From far away the paintings flicker on and off at random, each painting emitting chimes calling over the participant. When the viewer gets close all the lights turn off, and as the viewer passes by each painting, it will light up and play music – creating the illusion that the paintings are dancing and playing with each other.
Artists
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Thadea Decora
Thadea Decora is a Toronto based artist, illustrator, set designer and prop maker. She is the co-founder of a female lead art collective called Dekora Design, and a graduate of the Humber Theatre Production Program. She has designed projects for music festivals and events around Toronto. Her work is inspired by fantasy, spiritual imagery, mythical animals, art nouveau, and pop culture. She loves creating magical work from the very big to the very small.
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Vincent Glasheen
Vincent Glasheen is a designer with a background in Mechanical Engineering and Electronics. Vincent seeks to bridge the gap between artistic form and functional design both professionally and personally. Vincent currently works as a “specials designer” with Teknion where he takes custom client requests for products from idea to reality.
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Marc Reeve-Newson
Marc Reeve-Newson has a degree in physics with a painful amount of math. He played with way too much Lego as a kid. He can't draw to save his life. He wants to understand the world around him, learn new skills; build and create. He hopes this art brings you joy, and inspires you to create art of your own.
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Sofie Timkovski
Sofie Timkovski has been an accredited supply chain professional and project manager since 2015. Sofie has been involved with public art projects in Toronto since 2011. She has also spent 10 years building large scale public art in Black Rock Desert, NV including assisting on transport and logistics, construction, and build safety, as well as operating a Mutant Vehicle.
