Come Friday, the back wall of the Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre building will feature new artwork.
Azby Whitecalf, from Sweetgrass First Nation, and Taylor Starchief, from Mosquito First Nation, are painting a mural with themes from Aboriginal art.
“I thought this was a very good opportunity to help shed light on the Aboriginal community here in North Battleford,” Whitecalf said.
Patricia Whitecalf-Ironstand, executive director of the health centre, said the mural is intended to “improve the overall look of the wall.”
“Hopefully it’ll encourage pedestrian traffic to view the artwork and to generate civic pride,” Whitecalf-Ironstand said.
Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre is a First Nations owned and operated health services organization governed by a board made up of chiefs from Little Pine, Poundmaker, Lucky Man, Mosquito, Moosomin, Red Pheasant and Sweetgrass First Nations.
The mural is produced in partnership with Discovery Co-op’s Communities in Full Colour program.
Azby Whitecalf is a second-year student at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, while Starchief plans to attend Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Saskatoon.
“I want to make comic books that educate aboriginal youth and non-aboriginal youth about what Plains Cree culture is,” Whitecalf said.
Along with painting, Starchief has experience with Native beadwork and powwow outfits through his grandfather, Chief Daniel Starchief of Mosquito First Nation.
The gig involved a meeting with elders to discuss what the mural would look like. The artists began the mural last Monday, and plan to finish Friday, Aug. 25.
Whitecalf said the right side of the mural depicts a “person praying, and within the smoke are animals that are involved within our spirituality, butterfly, trout, wolves, deer, eagle and bison.”
Whitecalf said the more sacred animals feature within the left side of the smoke.
Starchief’s artistic reference is End of the Trail, an image especially well-known in the U.S., which Starchief said “represents the end of hope for that way of living.”
“I was really interested when I looked it up,” Starchief said. “I like old Native stories like that.”
