Artwork for The Ottawa Hospital’s 100th Anniversary of the Civic Campus

In 2024, the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital turns 100 years old. To celebrate this landmark, I was asked to create artwork to commemorate this historic building. I learned that the Civic Hospital was built in response to the 1918 flu pandemic. I recognized the significance of doing this work as we come out of another pandemic.

Sketching work was done on location, and photo references were gathered to capture as much detail as possible for work done later in the studio. This was the first time I had worked on a building this large or detailed. We wanted to produce a simple illustration for a logo and a more detailed artistic piece for art prints and other commemorative aspects.

It was a challenge to balance the level of detail on the building with the simplicity required for logo reproduction at small sizes. Once the logo illustration was complete, I moved on to the artistic piece, which captured the overall feeling of the building. Once finished, I created a second variation of the artwork by limiting the colour palette.

During the process, a short documentary was made about the commission. Fangliang Xu, an excellent filmmaker and storyteller, directed the project, which involved multiple shoots, including arranging drone footage of the hospital and capturing the production of the first art print.

Limited editions of both prints are available below.

To learn more about the Civic Campus’ 100th anniversary, follow The Ottawa Hospital on Instagram.

Thank you to the Ottawa Hospital for involving me in this anniversary celebration!