A Million Summers

Artist: Blake Williams
Location: Surrey Sport and Leisure Complex (16555 Fraser Highway)
Category: Civic collection
Year: 1999

About A Million Summers

A Million Summers is an extensive set of murals and two-dimensional artworks displayed in the Surrey Sport and Leisure Complex. The artworks have a strong sense of movement and flight with their images of dragonflies, feathers, and divers falling through space. Ceramic tiles frame the entrance with fragmented images taken from the larger murals at the end of the competition pool. The four large ceramic murals in the pool area show two male and two female divers, symbolizing human ambition and achievement.

In the changing rooms, 128 tiles were screen-printed with brightly coloured, charming sports and health-related pictures drawn by children from the nearby William Watson Elementary School. By contrast, the 12 delicate viewing frames laminated on the windows overlooking the garden depict black-and-white excerpts of historical and environmental text and photographs, inviting close scrutiny.

More on A Million Summers

About the Artist

Vancouver-based artist Blake Williams is known for visual histories of communities. Queen Victoria Annex mural (1998), which he built with school children, is based on stories told by their parents and grandparents of childhood games. His 12 x 40 feet ceramic mural of Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion Tour can be seen at General Motors Place. Williams has also worked with 150 North Vancouver residents to produce 330 ceramic tiles for Valley Stories at the Lynn Valley Community Recreation Centre.

His other public artworks in Surrey include From Frozen Ponds and All Intertwining.