From Saturday, January 29, 2022 to Saturday, February 5, 2022, the temporary art installation Hidden St. Catharines was on display on the community organization sign board at the corner of Queenston Street and Cushman Road in St. Catharines, Ontario.
The goal of this installation was to not be noticed.
For each Hidden St. Catharines organization, a custom logo and backstory was developed. Once that step was complete, each organization’s logo was crafted into a metal sign to be put on display.
Each sign is approximately 24” wide, and hand-cut out of 26 gauge steel. Once cut, the sign blanks were primed and painted white. The organizational logos were then cut out of coloured vinyl, and applied to the sign blanks to complete the process.
Supplementary graphics and photos were gathered from a wide variety of sources. Every effort was made to use materials that were in the public domain, though in some instances information about copyright could not be found. All sources are detailed on the following pages.
Special thanks to the St. Catharines Public Library and their Digital Collections website, as most local photos and newspaper snippets were found using their extensive database of local media.
This project has been percolating in my mind for years, and I am thrilled it has finally come to fruition. A big thank you to the select few who knew about this installation before it was made public, and kept it a secret. Be thankful that we live in a community of real organizations that work to make St. Catharines a better place to live. Lastly, if there is a message behind hidden St. Catharines , it is this: keep your eyes open, and be curious.
