Sights are set on Sicamous as the next location for a sculpture honouring Secwépemc elders, language and traditional territories.
Following installations at the Salmon Arm wharf and Chase Memorial Park, the Secwépemc Landmark Project organizers are looking to highlight the traditions and history found near Sicamous Beach Park with a landmark sculpture. The design was previously planned to go atop Queest Mountain, but council disapproved of that site due to its remote location being difficult to monitor and the possibility of damage to the art.
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At the June 14 committee of the whole meeting, Adams Lake Band councillor Shelley Witzky spoke virtually to council, explaining how the landmark project came to be.
Witzky said elders from around the Adams Lake, Neskonlith, Little Shuswap Lake and Splatsin bands were brought to visit 17 proposed project sites when the idea was formed in 2018 and the project received funding in 2019.
“The elders noticed nothing out there on the land denotes you’re in Secwépemc traditional territory,” said Witsky.
“We wanted our peoples’ story told.”
Large sculptures were planned for the project, in highly visited areas providing place names and personal stories instead of the legends that are accessible to the public already, said Witzky.
She spoke of the Shuswap Trail Alliance partnership of recent years which resulted in 100 trailhead posts carved by Indigenous and non-Indigenous School District 83 students, replacing posts along the alliance’s trails system.
Witzky mentioned only five or six carved posts are left and so there is a possibility of repeating the project.
READ MORE: Shuswap sculptures: New grant means Secwépemc Landmarks Project to continue
Witzky then presented further details on the landmark artworks. There will be a total of eight landmarks in phase one, and a second phase of an additional eight works.
So far, the Salmon Arm and Chase landmarks are positioned in a direct line of sight to nearby mountain tops, including Bastion Mountain, Little Mountain and Fly Hills, where smaller landmarks will be placed.
The current sculptures are around six to seven feet high, she said, and the smaller ones atop the mountains are designed to be around three or four feet tall.
Incorporating lines of sight calls back to an ancient landmark system, Witzky explained, denoting where anyone travelling the area could find deer to hunt and other meat and fish to eat.
“These are cultural values of helping each other, being egalitarian and a modern concept of sharing language, place names and culture with us today,” she said. “Not just with guests and tourists, neighbours, but also Indigenous youth.”
The presentation then turned to Sicamous, detailed by project advisor David Jacob Harder. An artist himself, Harder worked on the landmark pieces and advises on projects he isn’t artistically a part of. He helped create SASCU’s legacy piece located in Beach Park.
The design team, district staff and Secwépemc elders decided on Beach Park as the location for the Sek’Maws (Sicamous) landmark artwork.
The design, by Neskonlith artist Tania Willard and Tk’emlúps artist Kel-c Jules, will be modelled after a piece named ‘For Future Matriarchs,’ by Willard and Krista-Belle Stewart, which is located at the UBC Okanagan in Kelowna. For Future Matriarchs commemorates the 14 women whose lives were lost in the École Polytechnique massacre, said Harder.
At Beach Park, the actual site for the art, which is the same design as originally proposed to council (a steel ball lit from within), is on top of a small hill, on a man-made structure that is now used as a kiosk.
Harder presented the partnership agreement to council, asking for help with long-term maintenance. He mentioned the design includes public safety guidelines and guards against negative interaction with the piece, such as graffiti.
Harder said he’s worked on about 60 public artworks and has had to repair only a few due to interaction, usually seeing only minor damage.
The budget for the artwork includes $7,000 for materials and fabrication, $3,500 for transportation and installation, and a $1,050 contingency fund. Witzky mentioned the bands have set aside funds to pay for potential replacement of damaged sculptures, as they don’t want to add financial burdens to the communities hosting the artwork.
Specifics of the fire ball sculpture’s design include a weight of 250-300 pounds, the sphere’s diameter of 32 inches and a height of 46 inches, Harder estimated. LED lighting inside will be low-cost and, Harder expects, easy to connect to the existing power panel, adding he hopes the bright light will help to deter vandalism.
Coun. Ian Baillie suggested the future Shuswap Healing Centre as an option for the landmark, to help “tell a cohesive story of partnership with Indigenous peoples,” but both Witzky and Harder said Beach Park is the finalized site, citing the elders’ preferences.
“We make room for the elders to guide this project and respect that they have been around 80 to 90 years,” said Witzky.
“They’re fluent language speakers, they have a connection to the land that my generation is still learning and certainly younger generations are. Their connection is much deeper and they felt they wanted it there and we respect that.”
Witzky suggested the healing centre as another opportunity to offer space to a Secwépemc artist.
Harder said the artwork is in the preliminary engineering phase still, and is going through approval with the elders for wording and design.
That process ultimately dictates a timeline, he said, but he hopes to begin installing it in phases over this summer and next, with fabrication beginning during winter of this year.
READ MORE: ‘It’s our food supply, right?:’ Shuswap land defender focuses on water
@willson_becca
rebecca.willson@saobserver.net
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