Park dedicated to Indigenous art inspires contemplation
Colourful sculptures dotting the green space tie together themes of past, present, future
We don’t always get things right here, but the redevelopment of Edmonton’s parks like Borden and Paul Kane have been aweinspiring. And now, nothing short of transformational with its animism, bright colours and tiered vantages, the brand-new
ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW ) River Lot 11∞ Indigenous art park has become a space of dignity and contemplation in the river valley. It’s an amazing, meaningful setting.
Six permanent sculptures practically sing along the paths just north of Queen Elizabeth Park Road, just down the wooden steps at 105 Street and Saskatchewan Drive. An official opening event is Saturday between noon and
4 p.m — hopefully with a minimum of snow, with Indigenous events planned starting at 1 p.m.
Each sturdy work curated by Candice Hopkins is clever and thought-provoking, from the predatory tension of the bronze coyote and hare resting close to each other on Mary Anne Barkhouse’s Reign, to Tiffany Shaw Collinge’s mirrored amphitheatre, pehonan — Cree for gathering or waiting place.
Her layered circle ripples outward to the park within the park within the valley, corresponding to future, present and past, with future at the bottom. Collinge explains in a phone interview.
“I put history at the top. I think about it in terms of oral history, so the furthest back, you have the greatest viewing distance. When I went to the (Alex) Janvier staircase in Sherwood Park, he did something similar. I’d already decided to do it that way, but I felt really validated about that accidental connection.”
The most visually striking piece in the park is Amy Malbeuf ’s ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (iskotew) — tall, shining Cree syllabics in turquoise, yellow and pink. The Métis artist notes on the Edmonton Arts Council’s website, “I knew right away I wanted to create something with language since there is a lack of visible Indigenous language in Edmonton.” The word means fire in Cree. Nestled in the grass like a giant’s dropped tool, Duane Linklater has a human-sized concrete sculpture called mikiwan. Its temporary plaque, which will soon be replaced with one in Plains Cree, Michif, French and English, states simply, “this hide scraper is from/for the past present future.” Feeling a theme yet?
The overall layout is wonderful, and up one path a neolithiclooking stone fence called Preparing to Cross the Sacred River has beaded imagery of arrows, flowers, carts and geese. That bird was loosely summoned from a story local elder Jerry Saddleback told artist Marianne Nicolson. Appropriately, magpies also feature prominently.
“The floral patterns and magpies are all connected to stories and the river valley,” Nicolson told the Edmonton Arts Council. “If you look very closely at the black dots in the artwork, you’ll see that they’re actually a dark greenish-bluish sparkly shade that references the magpie’s feathers.”
She hopes people interact with the sculpture, including by making rubbings.
You might recognize the stylized powwow dancers in Jerry Whitehead’s mamohkamatowin from along the LRT tracks by Stadium Station. Here on the backs of a two-turtle sculpture, his mosaics are rife with symbolism — including the Métis flag, bear paws, a white buffalo and an eagle on one; the Thunderbird, a beaver and a gorgeous pileated woodpecker on the other.
As much as any of the sculptures, the turtles speak to an entire cosmology, and its name means Helping Each Other.
“The whole project worked because people were helping each other continuously throughout the process from the beginning,” said Whitehead. “People helped me out at every stage; from the proposal writing, to the project management and fabrication.
“When I looked at it, I liked the fact ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW ) River Lot 11∞ is a park within a park — a little island. Then I wondered what I could do to make it interesting and I started thinking about the Cree creation story, which is like all Indigenous creation stories because they think of North America as Turtle Island.”
In the works since 2013, the park is a groundbreaking collaboration between the City of Edmonton, Confederation of Treaty 6 First Nations, Métis Nation of Alberta, Edmonton Arts Council and Indigenous artists. As I walked up to the open park for the first time, local artist Claude Garneau, whose family is on the French side of the Garneau name, is carving the inscription on one of the stones marking the park after being hired by a landscaping company.
He stops and looks up at the sculptures. “I think it’s beautiful. They have to be respected.”
“I’m excited to see people use the space, that’s what I’m most excited about,” said Collinge. “I’m delighted visibility for Indigenous people has been heightened in the city. There’s this place for people to go and have refuge, and also it’s an open space, not just for Indigenous people but for everybody.”
dc3 Art Projects opens its doors again Thursday after a summer break with a new show by Saskatoon’s Ruth Cuthand: Extirpate this Execrable Race. The show’s title comes from an awful quote by the British Army’s Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst about how to get rid of an entire race.
Using blankets and beadwork, the ever-inventive Cuthand is confronting some of Canada’s darker moments of history, said curator Michelle Schultz.
“The intentional ‘gifting ’ of smallpox-infected blankets to Indigenous people was one of the first major health impacts of colonization that decimated populations. In this work, Ruth forces us to face this history and our roles and responsibilities in the ongoing impacts of colonization,” she said.
Cuthand is known for her work making strangely beautiful art objects inspired by seemingly avoidable diseases.
In the case of this show running Sept. 13– Oct. 20, beaded representations of the smallpox virus are affixed on 50 packages of blankets, tied up in red bows.
The show opens 6 p.m. Friday at 10567 111 St.