“Smokeless Chimney” began as a simple observation of an old brick chimney that no longer releases smoke.
The older home where the chimney exists may have had a coal-burning furnace at one time. Our home did when I was a child in a neighbourhood very near here. Bringing back memories of shuffling down to the basement to stoke the coals and get the fire going in the early mornings. I can imagine the dark sooty clouds escaping from this chimney in the cold winters past.
This chimney is probably now only used to vent vapours from the natural gas-fired furnace that has replaced the coal billowing smoke machine.
Over the course of a few years, I have observed the changes in weather creating different effects with light, colour, clouds, rain, frost, and snow.
Whether it’s the first rays of the early morning sun, clouds breaking after a storm or a street light casting its odd colour balance over a long exposure in the middle of the night. This view is in a constant state of change, it’s own living art form.
My curiosity with this chimney turned into a study of these ever-changing elements around this lonely old chimney.
I am one of the few witnesses, if not the only constant observer.
