Grass is Greener

This architectural installation of etched glass panels is located inside the vestibule of the port’s pedestrian entrance. These panels are viewed primarily by people walking through the border station, between Abbotsford, British Columbia, and the United States.

The artwork includes frosted etched imagery familiar to this region: wildflowers, tulips, huckleberries, and a flock of birds. He was inspired by a familiar scene from years past at the border station: the return of a flock of birds (Vaux Swift) migrating from Central America to the Pacific Northwest each April. The notion of thousands of birds migrating to a border station resonated with Savinar as being a “wonderful, intellectual, and romantic issue.” These birds would roost in the nearby mountains but also could be seen perched on the chimney of the former U.S. Customs House. Large numbers of swifts had entered its brick chimney as early as the 1950s, especially in the spring.
Golden barbed wire, deeply etched into the non-tempered glass, symbolizes power, strength, and defiance. The gold color was achieved through an application of 23k gold leaf, water-based acrylic sizing (an adhesive), and bronze powder.