Indigenous Art Park

[1] When the park reopened in 2018 as ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW), it featured six permanently installed artworks by Indigenous artists, as well as newly expanded trails, a covered seating area, and extra picnic tables scattered throughout.

Amy Malbeuf, from Rich Lake, Alberta, is a Métis visual artist known for her work that examines notions of language, territory, nature and identity through a multidisciplinary approach.

[11] The steel, which features a beading pattern from Shaw-Collinge's grandmother's moccasin-making, will rust and decay over time, combining ideas of Indigenous resiliency and the damage created by European colonization.

[12] Linklater chose the object to "memorialize the work of Indigenous women and the relation of that labour to the land," and to pay respect to the role that buffalo played in creating community in this place before their herds were destroyed by European settlers.

[16] The mother turtle faces west and features detailed, colourful mosaics depicting the sweat lodge, an eagle, the Northern Lights, teepees, dancers, a woodpecker to symbolize the Papaschase people, a thunderbird, and a beaver.

"[16] Mary Anne Barkhouse is a jeweller and sculpture artist from Kwakiutl First Nation whose work utilizes animal imagery to evoke themes of environmentalism and Indigenous culture.

[17][18] Barkhouse's installation features a 6 foot tall, polished red granite pillar decorated with etchings of fossils of the predator and prey Edmontosaurus and Albertosaurus.

[18][dead link‍] In an interview about the installation, Barkhouse said, "From a cultural and scientific point of view, I was trying to have the characters in the work be evocative of the checks and balances the evolutionary process has fine-tuned.

[19] Nicolson's installation title notes the nearby North Saskatchewan River and the piece contains many references to its formation, flora, fauna, and history of sustaining Indigenous peoples on its banks.

[20] In her research for the project, Nicolson spoke with many elders who told her their traditional stories, which she used to inform the imagery carved on the stones: geese, magpies, other animals, flowers, and arrows to show movement and give direction.

[20] In an interview about the piece, Nicholson said, "Basically, the metaphor of ‘preparing to cross the sacred river’ speaks to the idea that there is a different relationship to the land that needs to be considered in order to halt environmental damage or climate change.

Large, brightly coloured sculptures of the Cree syllabics ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (the word for "fire")
ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (iskotew) by Amy Malbeuf.
pehonan by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge in Indigenous Art Park, ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11 on a spring day. Downtown Edmonton in the background.
pehonan by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge.
Indigenous Art Park, ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11 on a spring day with mikikwan by Duane Linklater in the foreground - a large concrete sculpture of a buffalo bone hide scraper
mikikwan by Duane Linklater
See article for full description of work
Mamohkamatowin (Helping Each Other) by Jerry Whitehead
See article for full description of work
Reign by Mary Anne Barkhouse
See article for full description of work
Preparing to Cross the Sacred River by Marianne Nicolson