The Markham Grand Window

Portrait of Bloor Street from Dovercourt to the ROM, Henry Knight (2023-2024).

My patron for the Markham Transom wanted another one, much bigger, to complete a front scheme for the house. This was a big honour, as the window had to be renovated to make it possible. This is the biggest of my maps, and the most sculptural. Making this was a whole journey. I loved it.

It’s big: 46” by 20”. The height is not such an issue, but the length is, for structural reasons. When windows get big, they discover new forms of fragility, like wind load, or their own weight. i dealt with that, for this one, by overbuilding it. Its pieces are small, which makes them less likely to snap, and I poured nearly seven pounds of solder into it.

At this scale, another influence arises: textiles. This is very true to Toronto tradition, where lots of the old patterns were based on quilting, or on paisleys. In this case, I became very aware of Toronto as a woven surface, with a warp and a weft. I then embroidered that surface with glass and metal.