A Departure, Ilan Sandler, 2009
Utilising Canadian lumber and the Japanese woodworking methods Kumiko (interlocking lattice) and magewappa (woodbending), Hinode brings together the two heritages honoured at the Bunka Centre at Nikka Yuko Garden. The artist designed simplified organic forms which...
When humans first conceived of flight, they raised their arms to mimic the birds that flew overhead. Five common birds in southern Alberta are depicted to-scale alongside references to the digital technology that oversee our modern flight systems. The radar screen...
This image is based on a few personal favourite viewpoints in Lethbridge and Southern Alberta, combined to create a new, imaginary landscape. The vibrant colour palette provides an unreal quality to the work. I hoped to create a pictorial space that both references...
Heavy Shield has given us this insight into the mural process – “Blackfoot tipi designs come to their makers in dreams. As an artist, I am a dreamer, and like my other artworks, Iiyikitapiiyit! visited me, wanting to be shared. The tipi is still considered “home” to...
This mural represents the future, not the past. The piece depicts a mother and daughter, two women of colour, floating through a Lethbridge landscape that looks familiar but otherworldly. The figures would be framed by an ornate art nouveau-style border. There would...
Part of a larger project of the same name and reflects my ongoing interest in urban wildlife. I want to represent species common to the city and have people pause and (re)consider their relationship to these animals. For example, skunks may cause fear and alarm but...
“There is a lot of looking in and out of windows, and I thought that this would make a very unique design, of an electrical box wrapped in windows, staring out onto the Southern Alberta Prairies, or into old farmhouses.” Or in this case, into the park!
The Northern Flicker is a native species that spend all year in Lethbridge. It has a distinct call and a beautiful, alluring look that most would recognize hearing or seeing, even if they don’t know what it is. This bird is a hole-dwelling species, sometimes using...
“I am familiar with the history and contemporary meaning of Galt Gardens as a social and cultural hub of Lethbridge and Indigenous community. As an educator and emerging artist, my philosophy is to create visual art as a way of storytelling that both inspires and...
This mural is a meditation on our relationship with the environment, suggesting a journey of reflection in which we examine and reimagine our relationship to the planet. This mural is 16’ high x 25’ wide Part of a pilot project with Heart of Our City and the Public...
Each mixed media image represents important references of home. The rocks, hoodoos, beadwork, and portrait of the late Ed Heavy Shield are significant because of the Blackfoot territory and the people they represent.
These designs emphasize the interconnection of all living things. It highlights the prairie dogs, the buffalo, and human beings for the integral parts they play within the status of their ecosystem’s health. They are what biology refers to as “keystone species,”...