Echoes in the Bloom: Remembrance Day Art Workshop

Echoes in the Bloom is a powerful public art installation created for Remembrance Every Day, an exhibition organized by the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Installed at the Waterloo Public Library Main Branch, the work brings together more than 300 hand-crafted ceramic poppies. Two distinct sizes of poppies form the dots and dashes of Morse code, spelling out lines of poetry across the installation. Filling the library’s atrium with a vibrant field of remembrance, Echoes in the Bloom invites visitors to pause and reflect on memory, resilience, and the strength found in collective acts of making.

Behind the work is Christopher He, a Waterloo-based mixed media artist whose practice spans ceramics, printmaking, and community-engaged projects. His work often explores memory, culture, and everyday rituals through both functional and sculptural forms. A graduate of the University of Waterloo, Christopher has exhibited widely across the region and is the artist behind Echoes in the Bloom, presented as part of Remembrance Every Day with the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery. During his studies, he trained under celebrated clay sculptor Ms. Paleczny, whose mentorship in the University of Waterloo ceramics program helped shape his practice and laid the foundations for his work in clay.

Extending that spirit of collaboration and shared creation, students from SJK in Grades 8, 9, and 11 had the unique opportunity to work alongside Christopher throughout the project. In the Art Studio, they shaped and glazed poppies that became part of the final installation, each student contributing their own hands and voice to the field of remembrance. For many, it was their first experience participating in a large-scale public artwork, and their involvement underscored the installation’s spirit of collective memory and community. By helping bring Echoes in the Bloom to life, the students not only learned technical ceramic skills but also experienced how art can carry stories across generations and give form to remembrance itself.