Villa Rosa students light up Wolseley with Indigenous-themed art installation

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This article was published 29/01/2024 (671 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New and expectant moms at Villa Rosa pregnancy support centre are again putting their artistic skills on display.

Last winter, residents at the Wolesley area facility painted benches on the Wolseley Winter Wonderland’s frozen river trail, collaborating on four different designs of Indigenous-themed artwork.

This year, single, pregnant students had their sights set on an even bigger canvas: an inukshuk, provided to them in individual pieces that would be turned into a finished product once designed.

For Inuit people, the inukshuk — which means “in the likeness of a human” — has been used as a marker to guide travellers, assist hunters and warn of danger. They are generally constructed of stone.

The goal was to give each student an opportunity to feature a piece of their own work and have it be displayed as part of the whole.

Jennifer Kirkwood, a Villa Rosa art teacher who helped with last year’s benches, came up with the idea.

“We wanted to let the students make their own decisions of what went on there,” Kirkwood said.

“I helped with the techniques but the designs themselves are completely theirs.”

The students chose to design their pieces with Indigenous artwork once again, while adding a personal touch.

“One student had two foxes playing on theirs,” Tara Smith, head of Villa Rosa’s academic department said.

“It reminded her of what it felt like when her baby was in her stomach moving around. That’s what she wanted on the inukshuk, and you can see that. It looks like a mother and a pup playing.”

Most of the students at Villa Rosa are between the ages of 16 and 30, and are either expecting or new mothers.

Kirkwood says some of them were shy and hesitant about sharing their work at first, but things changed once they began to show, and tell.

“There was such a sense of pride when people could see what they did,” Kirkwood said.

“One of the students had made an eagle, and it was important that she see it as public art,” she said.

“When the students see people stopping and looking at their art it’s giving them a sense of self-confidence. As a teacher I don’t think there is anything more worthwhile.”

The inukshuk reads “let’s walk together” on the front, written in Inuktitut, the traditional language of the Inuit peoples.

It’s meant to indicate Indigenous people are inviting others to walk with them, bringing all communities together.

To accurately translate the phrase, Kirkwood received help from her brother, who was in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, where he sought language assistance from residents.

Kirkwood said the students made it a point to have that specific message highlighted on the inukshuk.

A ceremony on the frozen Assiniboine River Friday in front of the newly erected inukshuk featured students and teachers participating in rituals such as smudging, drum circles and singing.

They were led by Aj’a Oliver, a knowledge keeper who has supported the students from the start of the year and has helped honour their work.

Smith says she was pleased to see the turnout.

“It was incredible because a varied community came together,” she said.

“It was everything we hoped for.”

Villa Rosa plans to turn the inukshuk into a year-round attraction which they can move from river to land, as the seasons change.

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