Animals take to the ice The Forks unveils winter warming hut creations By: Alan Small Posted: 6:04 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023

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This article was published 23/11/2023 (1014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An eagle, a beaver and a catfish, animals that have called The Forks home for ages, will be part of the Nestaweya River Trail this winter.

They can be hard to find, but their artistic representations will be captured for the annual Warming Huts arts and architecture competition, which announced three winning designs Thursday, along with three other special-guest creations.

A five-metre eagle made of cedar, a combination of two sacred elements of Indigenous cultures, will be perched at the skating trail by father-and-son Peguis First Nation artists Wayne and Jordan Stranger.

Titled Circling Above Us, the eagle will keep skaters, skiers, snowshoers and hikers cosy, with its huge wings serving as walls to block the winter wind.

Eagles have become an important part of Jordan Stranger’s art and life after spending years of learning about Anishinaabe teaching from elders. Many of his paintings adorning The Forks Market include eagles.

“The eagle is flying high, looking for the ones that still are able and who want and can practise our traditions,” says the owner of Totem Doodem art company.

The cedar branches, shakes and benches Wayne Stranger will use to build Circling Above Us hold greater significance than its obvious use as a windbreak.

“It’s one of the four sacred medicines we were given: sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco,” says Wayne Stranger, owner of Stranger Bronzeworks, whose works have been included in The Forks exhibitions and on the river trail. “The cedar is used in ceremonies, in sundance, in sweatlodge, teas, smudges.

“It’s got so many uses, and when we’re finished, we’ll give it back to people who want some.”

A group of seven Grade 5 and 6 students from École St. Avila — Nolan Baker, Tarik Bara, Maksim Grzenda, Jesse Lawley, Jack McLaughlin, Justin Potter and Kevin Wang — represented the winning entry for the warming huts’ school competition at Thursday’s announcement at The Forks Market.

Amisk, which means beaver in Cree, is the title of the design from the French-immersion school in Fort Richmond. It’s a product of what the students have learned about Treaty 1 cultures such as the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Lakota, all of whom used The Forks as a meeting place for centuries.

“With hard work and dedication comes knowledge,” is one of the statements printed on a model of their warming hut, and Indigenous teachings as well as facts about beavers will be part of the design, which will be written in French, English, Cree and braille.

The University of Manitoba’s faculty of architecture will create Ice Henge, which will have frozen forms emerging from the river-trail ice that will shine in the sun and glow at night.

The three winning designs were selected from more than 200 entries from around the world. Since the competition began in 2010, The Forks has installed 78 innovative works.

Murky Waters — by Oklahoma City architects Christopher Loofs, Jordan Loofs and Kaci Marshall — is a catfish out of water, with the inside of its head serving as a place for trail visitors to catch their breath.

Verena Neiles Kempf and Ilga Neiles of Zurich, Switzerland, and Hamburg, Germany, designed Spinning Dim Sum, which will be three dumpling-shaped movable felt hideouts.

Sublimation, by Francisco Silva, Barbara Stallone and Alexander Pollard of Paris and London, will let the wintry elements transform a recycled fishing net, supported by large tentpole, to create a translucent pavilion for contemplation and protection.

alan.small@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @AlanDSmall