Aura

The Amazing Brentwood, Burnaby

Summer 2021

The Amazing Brentwood has unveiled “Aura,” an interactive, large-scale public art installation, created to celebrate the optimism of summer 2021 while driving support for the Coast Mental Health Foundation. The largest natural light mural of its kind in Western Canada, “Aura” spans over 14,600 square feet, with six separate installations throughout The Amazing Brentwood that transform the development’s glass and modern architecture into an ever-evolving kaleidoscope of vivid colour. As immersive art, “Aura” encourages British Columbians to reconnect with the world around them while raising money for a great cause: for every social share tagging @the.amazing.brentwood and #UnleashYourAura, The Amazing Brentwood will donate $1 to Coast Mental Health Foundation, up to $5,000.

Imagined by Kelowna-born muralist Elyse Dodge, “Aura’s” sunlight-powered and semi-transparent vinyl installations adorn six highly visible locations at The Amazing Brentwood, including the elevator shaft, the Grand Lobby, the skytrain bridge, rooftop, and the interior skybridge. Known for her brightly coloured, deconstructed landscape murals, Dodge’s inspiration for “Aura” came from the sunlight filtering through various locations at The Amazing Brentwood, and how it produced dramatically different effects depending on the time of day -- an ideal canvas to celebrate the optimism of summer 2021.

Coast Mental Health Foundation

As the recipient of “Aura’s” fundraising efforts, Coast Mental Health Foundation provides essential housing, support and employment services for people with mental illness so they can find their meaningful place in our community – a place to live, a place to connect, and a place to work. Coast Mental Health’s approach is client-focused and community-based. The people they serve – their clients – take the lead in their recovery, working side-by-side with Coast’s team to set goals and decide which services and programs will best help them meet these goals.

We are thrilled to be participating in this community-based public art project that shines light on the mental health challenges facing Lower Mainland residents. By mobilizing the public to share their energy this summer, ‘Aura’ is also creating conversation about mental health. This awareness can only serve to strengthen our communities and our programs here at Coast Mental Health. We are encouraged and excited by the positive impact this artwork will have for the almost 6,000 people that we serve across 52 sites in Greater Vancouver, including in Burnaby. Many of the programs they benefit from simply wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of donors.
- Darrell Burnham, CEO of Coast Mental Health Foundation

Elyse Dodge

“Aura”

— Through this interactive art installation, I want viewers to reconnect with the world around them by experiencing the wonder of light and colour again. Viewing these installations from various locations, through the changing seasons and at different times of day produces a dramatically different effect. During the day, the elevator shaft transforms into a twisting tower of light and the skybridge, canopy, lobby and rooftop become a kaleidoscope of colours and reflections. In the evening, most of the installations are lit, transforming the modern architecture of The Amazing Brentwood into a lightbox of colour that emanates onto the world outside. As guests explore through these different spaces, the light appears to move with them too, revealing a captivating aura of colour and shadows that turns the viewer into the artwork itself. Powered by light, “Aura”, is an ever changing, ever evolving art piece that entices viewers to enjoy life in colour again. Coming out of a particularly dark and isolating season, my hope is that this installation reminds us to look for the light, not only at The Amazing Brentwood but also in our day to day. There is joy to be found if only we are able to shift our perspective and look for it.

Featured Artists

Featured

Elyse Dodge

Elyse Dodge is best known for her bold use of colour in landscapes, exploring the connection between soft and hard forms, creating a distinctive visual language in her work.

Elyse was raised in Kelowna, British Columbia, by an artist and a builder who taught her about craftsmanship and how to see her surroundings as shapes and colour. Still inspired by the scenery of the West Coast, Elyse's work aims to capture the colours and textures of the views we see every day. Elyse sees her work as deconstructed landscapes, focusing on the fractal shapes and textures rather than the subject matter. Using bright colour palettes - her work seamlessly blends the freedom of impressionism with the precision of geometry. The work acts as a reminder that things are not always what they seem and that a whole exists only as the sum of its parts; each part is therefore as beautiful and integral as the full puzzle.

Elyse’s colourful original paintings and prints of polygonal landscapes are featured in the interiors of contemporary homes and galleries across North America.