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The Sculptural Works of Wakinyan
Awasis
Sacred Animal Spirits
In the centre of the Awasis Sacred Sculptural
Site would be a large stone fountain fifty to sixty feet wide.
The fountain would be composed of large boulders with a cascade
of water flowing down on all sides. The water's edge of the
pool would come up nearly level with the gently sloping shoreline
edge of the fountain. The dry walking surface around the edge
would be composed of polished granite riverbed stones. One
would walk up to the water's edge as though walking along
the stone shore of a lake.
Mounted upon the large boulders of the waterfall
would be sixteen different Sacred Animal Spirits dedicated
to honouring the spirit of the child. The Sacred Animal Spirits
would be carved or sculpted by sixteen different Aboriginal
artists from across North America.
Encompassing the North American
Continent
Each Sacred Animal Spirit from the fountain would have two
additional bronze Spirit Twins. One edition of the Sacred
Animal Spirit Twins of each artist would be mounted in a location
in the region of that artist's Nation before the European
visitation. The other edition of the Sacred Animal Spirit
Twins would be placed in a location selected by the sculpting
artist.
In this layout the full group of the sixteen Sacred Animal
Spirits would be positioned in the centre of the primary central
circle of the Awasis Site; and thirty-two Spirit Twins
would be mounted in meaningful auxiliary locations across
the continent. In effect the axis intersecting the placement
and orientation of the Animal Spirit Twins would sculpturally
place the full geography of the Sacred Awasis Site
throughout North America.
Animal Spirit Sacred Dream
Catcher
A massive thirty-foot copper Dream Catcher would be suspended
high above the central Fountain of Sacred Animal Spirits.
This Sacred Dream Catcher of the Animal Spirits would gather
the memories, thoughts and impressions collected by the Sacred
Animal Spirits of Children.
Sacred Arch of the Spirit
of the Elders
Rising up over the Fountain of Sacred Animal Spirits for Children
would be a ninety-foot four-sided sculptural arch that would
serve as support for the thirty-foot Sacred Dream Catcher
that rests above the Fountain of Sacred Animal Spirits for
Children. On the vertical riser of the four sculpted poles
would be the names of Elders, Healers, leaders and significant
events of the First Peoples of Turtle Island. Hanging down
from the centre point of the arch that would be supported
by the Elders and ancestors of the Nations would be the Children's
Animal Spirit Sacred Dream Catcher.
Avian Warrior Spirits
Perched on top of each of the four pillars of the Sacred Arch
of the Spirit of the Elders would be a Warrior Spirit bird
of prey. A life size Eagle, Falcon, Condor and Thunderbird
would be sculpted and would be placed overlooking the Animal
Spirits of the Sacred Dream Catcher.
Legends for Children Figures
Two "Legends for Children" figures for Awasis would
be similar to the "Reaching Out" figures created
for the original Canadian Child Abuse Survivor Memorial. The
shawls draping the two figures are comprised of three hundred
quilt squares. A central theme of two hundred of the quilt
squares would be the cast hand of an Aboriginal youth and
art or writing they want to put on the square as their expression
in response to a legend related to them by an elder. These
quilts squares would be created in Awasis workshops by Aboriginal
youth who are attending Art College or are working under mentorship
in beginning their art careers.
The youth would each seek out an elder who would
share with them a story or legend that the elder would like
to pass on the children today and into the future. The youth
would submit a recording of the legend and their sculpted
quilt square for the “Reaching Out – Jingle Dance”
figures. The elders’ legends and youths’ sculpted
squares would additionally be the material of a book series
for children.
Seventy quilt squares would have carved into them
the "Medicine Wheel" artwork and writing of Native
children. Twenty-four of the quilt squares are left a plain
smooth bronze. This allows, in perpetuity, the ability of
visitors to the site to place their hand in the fountain and
then placing the damp hand on the plain square, to leave a
hand outline and thereby become a part of the monument and
its vision.
In the hollow space inside the large "Legends
for Children" bronze figures there would be room to place
hundreds of thousands of artwork and messages by Native children
from across the continent. For these medicine wheel drawings
children draw a medicine wheel on an 8½ by 11 sheet
of paper and write a message. From these images and writings
are chosen the seventy children's medicine wheels and messages
that are to be carved into the seventy children's quilt squares
on the outside surface of the Legends for Children shawls.
Mixed in with the children's drawings inside the
Legends for Children would be Medicine Pouches contributed by Elders
and Healers. The art workshop teachers and the project Elder
and Keepers would have primary responsibility for gathering
the children's drawings and the medicine pouches. The medicine
pouches and children's drawings would be placed inside the
Legends for Children figures as part of the unveiling purification
ceremonies.
The Innocence of Infancy
in the Concho Rosettes of the Legends for Children
The quilt bands between the quilt squares and along the border
would be decorated in a traditional Aboriginal geometric design.
One hundred and fifty-six two-inch squares would be created
where the bands intersect. Oval conchos would be formed into
these two inch squares. A different young North American animal
would be sculpted cradled in the concave bowl of each of the
conches.
The infant animal would be depicted in the sweet endearing
innocence of the baby. The artistic effect that would try
to be achieved with these young animals would be the quality
of the young that brings out our intrinsic desire to soothe,
cuddle and dote over them. This would likely create the largest
homogeneous collection of sculpted animal young. In addition
to being on the Legends for Children these infant conches would be
placed on the Sacred Arch of the Spirit of the Elders. Replicas
of the infant animals resting in the conch shells would be
some of the keepsake mementoes of the Awasis Project.
A children’s narrative volume would also
be produced with photos of these infant conches along with
a write up about the meaning or relationship of the animals
with various Nations.
Sacred Spirit Totems
Just inside the outer edge of the Sacred Medicine Wheel at
the cross section of the four winds would be four groupings
of two Sacred Spirit Totems in bronze. Each Sacred Spirit
Totem would be carved by a team from a separate Nation and
would reflect the artistic style of that Nation.
The West wind would have two totems carved by
West Coast artists. The Sacred Spirit Totems at the North
wind would be a Hopi Kachini and Deni Inukshuk. At the South
wind two modern totems would reside. Positioned at the East
wind would be the "Legends for Children" figures that would
be the collaboration of artists, youth and Elders from across
the continent. The West and South Sacred Spirit Totems pairs
would be forty to sixty feet high and the Inukshuk and Kachini
to the North would be between sixteen and twenty four feet
high.
The Sacred Spirit Totems would be originally carved
in cedar and the completed carvings would have moulds taken
from them to form them into the final bronze images. It would
be expected that the original wood Sacred Spirit Totems would
be housed as an indoor collection separate from the primary
Awasis site.
One of the West Coast Sacred Spirit Totems would
be done in a traditional hollowed out concave on the backside
and the other would be carved in the complete round. The bronze
Sacred Spirit Totem in the round would create a hollow cavity
in the centre and would have its top placed on during the
final dedication and purification ceremonies. In these purification
ceremonies with the Sacred Spirit Totem gifts and potlatch
items would be placed and sealed in the hollow cavity for
removal almost five hundred years in the future in -- 2492
-- at the point of 1000 years after the initial European arrival
on Turtle Island.
Sacred Smudge Bowl Sculptures
at the Four Winds
Directly in front of the four Sacred Spirit Totem groupings
along the path of the four winds would be four thirty-six
inch sculpted Sacred Smudge Bowls. The Sacred Smudge Bowls
would be about the height of a table and would be designed
as a sculptural form by an artist.
The Smudge Bowl motifs may be a sculpture of a
bowl shaped into an animal figure, a kneeling shaman formed
into the shape of a bowl, a bowl positioned within the upwardly
spread wings of an eagle or some other image/concept created
by the four Smudge Bowl sculptors.
The Sacred Smudge Bowls at the four winds would
be the primary altars for cleansing and purification during
the creation of Awasis. These Sacred Smudge Bowl/Sculptures
would exist in perpetuity at the site for use in prayer, purification,
cleansing and healing for those visiting the site.
Sacred Coppers for the
Children Whose Ashes
Have Washed to the Four Seas
Coppers were sacred and valuable items in the North West Nations.
Their design was a simple form often in the shape of an abstract
salmon, a fish that was fundamental to the community and culture
and was reddish like copper. As the Copper was passed as a
trusted gift through various hands it increased in worth.
Like the potlatch, they were ceremonially given away and eventually
given to the realm of the sea. As an act of great reverence
and respect these valuable "sculpture/shields" would
be taken out into the sea, torn into pieces and thrown to
rest with the spirit of the salmon in the sea.
It is expected that the four Sacred Wakinyan Coppers
for the Spirit of Awasis would be particularly spiritual pieces
and would be sculpted by artists who are also Elders or Healers.
The Sacred Coppers would remember the children whose ashes
and tears have been carried to the seas over the last half
a millennium. A vision quest would occur in preparation for
seeking and selecting the raw copper. Special purification
and blessing would take place throughout the process of preparing
the raw copper, forming the sculpture and finishing the works.
The Sacred Coppers would continue to be sculpted
during the several years leading up to the final month of
ceremony and during the journey to the Four Seas. In each
carrying case for the Sacred Coppers would be a set of engraving
tools that would be designed especially for the Sacred Coppers.
Aboriginal leaders and others would use these tools at ceremonies,
gatherings and events to add inscription and symbols to the
Coppers. The Sacred Coppers would be sculpted by nature and
ceremony as they gain a patina or maturing of colour over
the time they are resting in the Sacred Smudge Bowl Sculptures
during the final month of blessing ceremonies.
In the journeys of the Sacred Coppers to their
resting place in the Four Seas they would continue to receive
engraving inscriptions and imagery in the communities that
have ceremonies and blessings as the copper passed through.
The act of tearing the Coppers into pieces and tossing them
into the sea would be as much an important part of creating
them as an art piece as the other steps to their sculpting
process.
Sacred Medicine Wheel and
the Sacred Path of Childhood
Along the parameter of the outside circle of the site and
crossing at the direction of the four winds would be a granite
Sacred Medicine Wheel that would be laid into the ground.
In the yellow, black, white and red stone would be carved
the names of all the Aboriginal Nations that have existed
on the North America continent and their words for child and
gift.
Sacred Animal Spirit Mounds
Elders and sculptors would work closely in the creation of
the Sacred Animal Spirit Mounds of Awasis. Within each of
the four triangle plots created by the four sections of the
Sacred Medicine Wheel, a sculptor and Elder would design and
develop a Sacred Animal Spirit Mound and its contents through
ceremony, vision and consultation. The Elders may designate
specific objects that the sculptors would have responsibility
of creating. Buried in each Sacred Animal Mound would be that
Animal's Sacred Spirit Staff that was created for the Elder
over the period of creating the overall site.
Each sculptor would sculpt a stone image of the
Animal Spirit to lie on the line of the four winds within
their spirit mound. The Mounds would also contain other honouring
and purification artefacts that have been created from hide,
bone, feathers or claws that carry the spirit of the Animal
of that Mound.
Children would be asked to create gifts of small
fired clay Bears, Eagles, Buffalo and Salmon for placement
in the Sacred Animal Mounds. These clay figures would be created
in workshops lead by the project workshop team. Clay animal
images would also be accepted from children, schools or groups
that send them to the project.
The Sacred Mounds would come to be through a long
layering process of ceremony interspersed with placing objects
and laying down sacred soil. The Sacred Mounds would be dedicated
to The Salmon, The Buffalo, the Eagle and the Bear. Dirt for
each Sacred Mound would be blessed and would come from a special
location related to the specific Animal Spirit of that Mound.
Recording the objects and process of creation
of the four Sacred Animal Spirit Mounds will be a significant
element of these works. The records will be associated with
the site in such a manner that there will be no reason for
those in the future to dig up and deface the Mounds of Awasis.
Children's Sacred Spirit
Totems
Along the outside of the path of the Sacred Medicine Wheel
16 Children's Sacred Spirit Totems approximately sixteen inches
wide by forty-two inches high would be placed like beads lacing
a necklace. On each of the four sides of each Children's Sacred
Spirit Totem would be a fourteen-inch by thirty-six inch relief
sculpture plaque created by children under the guidance of
professional artists. These sixty-four children's murals would
be gathered from communities across North America. The design
of the Children's Sacred Spirit Totems allows their top surface
to serve as sculpture display pedestals
Honouring the Gifts
Placed on top of the sixteen Children's Sacred Spirit Totems
would be twenty inch to thirty-six inch family and child sculptures
made by Turtle Island artists who create sensitive and powerful
family or child themes. The images may be children playing,
a family vignette, a mother or father and child, a pregnant
woman a nursing child and other family images. The sculptures
for Honouring the Gifts would be twenty to thirty six inches
high. The works would be gathered from across the continent
and would be selected from works that artists have already
sculpted.
Clan Mothers of the Children's
Sacred Spirit Totems
Each Children's Sacred Spirit Totem would be entrusted to
four Clan Mothers, Society Mothers, or Grandmothers. The Clan
Mother would give special blessings and purifications to the
Spirit Totem in her care. All of the children who made each
Clan Mother's Children's Spirit Totem would receive a letter
and gift from one of the Clan Mothers.
Each Clan Mother would be given a Sacred Medicine
Bundle associated with her clan and made especially for her
Children's Spirit Totem. The Clan Mother would pass on her
charge and her Sacred Medicine Bundle of the Sacred Children's
Spirit Totem at a point of her choosing. The lineage of the
Clan Mothers would care for the Totems' of the Gifts as long
as water shall flow.
Great Canoes
Four traditional watercraft or Great
Canoes would be commissioned for provision of the final journey
of the four Coppers to the Four Seas. These sturdy crafts
would be painted and decorated as sacred vessels specifically
for their epic voyage. The Great Canoes would be in the style
of four different Aboriginal Nations and would each need to
be built sea worthy.
Sacred Canoe Paddles
Sacred Canoe Paddles would be carved and painted to create
a collection of sacred motifs from a wide variety of Nations.
The paddles would gain in meaning and sacredness as they repeatedly
churn, vibrate and stroke the rivers of many ancient nations
on their journey to the great waters. After completing their
journey they would be placed at the Awasis Interpretive
Centre in a grouping with photos of the Sacred Coppers, along
with the Sacred Bundles and Ceremonial Objects that travelled
with the Coppers over the five cycles of creating Awasis.
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