In what Marcia Wright called the 11th hour, she got a call asking for a commission for six fireplace surrounds and two floor pieces.
It was back in January when Wright got the call from Shepherd’s Care — a care facility and apartment complex — based in Edmonton.
“It’s been a bit of a rush because it’s real tight deadlines for my work. Normally I would take over a year to do this, so I’ve been working every day to complete it on time,” she said.
“They didn’t know what they wanted, they just wanted a mosaic of some sort,” Wright said, adding that they just wanted pieces within the mosaic to represent Alberta and Edmonton.
“Every piece has the Alberta rose, their provincial crest and a Canadian flag, homemade arrowheads and their provincial stone which is the petrified wood. So every piece has that in it and then every piece has something special to Alberta.”
Wright said that she flew out to Edmonton to see the building and meet with the architects, and then spent two days touring the city to see its highlights. She added that she sent over small sketches to begin with, but the final product is a bit different.
“I’ve changed them needless to say. You find the material that works, so there were several changes,” said Wright. She said she uses a variety of natural stones such as marbles, slates, granite and even flower stone from Texada Island.
Wright said she had done a commission for the company about five years ago, since the CEO has a cabin at Horne Lake, where her studio is located.
“They loved it and they said, ‘Next time, we want you to do something else.’” Wright said.
“I just didn’t think it would happen with the way the economy is. I just figured oh well it’s not going to happen and I thought I’m not going to phone and bug and then at the 11th hour, they were ready.”