Alive! A Garden Party by Kerry Ross, Bob Thornton, Carrie Phillips Kieser, John Abrams, Bram van Herwaarden
Kerry Ross, Bob Thornton, Carrie Phillips Kieser, John Abrams, Bram van Herwaarden
Alive! A Garden Party
Site #1
Churchill Square
11:00am-9:30pm
Alive! A Garden Party is an immersive exhibit exploring the beauty and benefits of living architecture. Featuring a rooftop garden, living wall, habitat panels, and a rain garden, this sensory-rich installation invites visitors to engage with native plants, pollinators, and sustainable design. Alive! A Garden Party reimagines city spaces as thriving, interconnected ecosystems.
Garden Party with the Artists Kerry Ross
June 21, 22, & 23
11:00am-3:pm
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Kerry Ross and Bob Thornton, 3D Rendering, ALIVE! Project rendering-side view, 3D rendering-Digital image, 2024, Photo Credit Chathurl S.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“It’s a call to reimagine urban life, one rooftop, one wall, one garden at a time. ”
Urban spaces have long been shaped by silent architects—our buildings. These structures influence how we live, interact, and relate to nature, often without us even realizing it. Inspired by Dr. David Orr’s notion that “buildings educate us,” ALIVE! A Garden Party transforms urban design into a dynamic, living classroom.
This immersive installation brings together art, ecology, and community in a vibrant celebration of living architecture. At its heart is a small yet expressive structure, conceived and crafted by designers Kerry Ross and Bob Thornton. Topped with an extensive green roof and draped with a lush living wall, the installation demonstrates the powerful potential of building-integrated ecosystems. These elements are not just visually striking—they support native and adaptive plant species, pollinators, and birds, and help manage stormwater through a functioning rain garden.
The project blends reclaimed materials and custom woodwork incorporating nature inspired printmaking by Carrie Phillips-Kieser who weaves a visual narrative where order meets organic spontaneity. John Abrams’ ambient soundscapes breathe life into the space and envelope visitors in a multisensory journey through biophilic design.
Bram van Herwaarden’s stunning photography is featured throughout the site, offering visual context and educational insight into local case studies and real-world applications of green infrastructure already in place in Edmonton.
ALIVE! is more than an installation—it’s a movement. Through interactive elements, youth ambassadors, and storytelling, we invite the public not only to witness but to participate in shaping the future of green cities. It’s a call to reimagine urban life, one rooftop, one wall, one garden at a time.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kerry Ross is an architectural consultant and project manager with over twenty years of experience, specializing in sustainable design and living architecture. One of Canada’s first accredited Green Roof Professionals, Kerry’s award-winning projects have been recognized for their innovation in sustainable building and ecological design, creating resilient, low-carbon designs that support biodiversity and engage all the senses.
Bob S. Thornton is an architectural designer with over twenty-five years of experience. Bob has been involved in developments large and small in both public and private sectors where he specializes in a broad range of design and technical abilities. As a graduate of environmental design at the University of Calgary, Bob received both the Dean’s Prize for best thesis project as well as the AIA Award of Excellence in the Study of Architecture.
Carrie Phillips Kieser is a print media artist based in Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia. She holds an MFA from NSCAD University and a BA in Art History and Fine Arts from Mount Allison University, with additional studies at UCLA. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she currently teaches Drawing and Introduction to Studio Practice as ICA Faculty at NSCAD University.
John Abrams has spent the past several years becoming more interested in visual art and its relation to music after having worked collaboratively with artists and filmmakers. A number of his compositions were inspired by literary or other extra-musical ideas or with reference to other music as a starting point. For example, in Kitchenette, a work for symphony orchestra composed in 2006, he was concerned with making an experience in music analogous to the visual experience of examining a still-life painting.
For Bram van Herwaarden photography began as a child, watching his mother document the lives of her kids with her Brownie camera. That early sense of wonder still drives his work today. He is drawn to solitude in his images with quiet, minimal compositions that hint at presence and absence: a lone figure, an empty space, a fleeting glance. Travel inspires him most with new places offering unfamiliar rhythms and unexpected moments. Whether capturing a street scene or a distant horizon, Bram aims to create images that feel like found memories – moments suspended in time, offering space to feel something personal or maybe even unexplainable.