Skip to content

Sculpture by Indigenous artist to be erected in Grand Forks

Civic leaders have rallied behind the project by Grand Forks’ David Seven Deers

Grand Forks’ Rotary Club donated $1,000 to sculptor David Seven Deers’ Shining Raven Woman project Friday, Nov. 27.

READ MORE: City council helps with new home for Grand Forks’ Ikasha

Shining Raven Woman, or “Ikasha” in Seven Deers’ native Halkomelem, represents the sculptor’s hopes for reconciliation — not just between settlers and his Sto:lo First Nation, and not just in Grand Forks.

Seven Deers carved Shinning Raven Woman out of Labradorite harvested from the Canadian Shield. Photo: Laurie Tritschler
Seven Deers carved Shinning Raven Woman out of Labradorite harvested from the Canadian Shield. Photo: Laurie Tritschler

READ MORE: Shining Raven Woman to be housed at Grand Forks’ confluence

“Here in this little town, we have a chance of making a good example for humanity,” he told The Gazette.

President Grant Hill said Rotarians instantly fell in love with the project after Seven Deers presented his idea to house Ikasha where the Granby and Kettle rivers meet.

“It was something that Rotary had to be a part of,” Hill said at Seven Deers’ 9th Street studio. “The reconciliation and the acknowledgement is important for everyone to be a part of,” he explained.

Rotary Club President Grant Hill met with Shinning Raven Woman after presenting Seven Deers with a $1,000 donation Friday, Nov. 27. Photo: Laurie Tritschler
Rotary Club President Grant Hill met with Shinning Raven Woman after presenting Seven Deers with a $1,000 donation Friday, Nov. 27. Photo: Laurie Tritschler

The money, raised by city Rotarians, will go toward the construction of Ikasha’s tradional Coast Salish lodge, an earthen dome built above the rivers’ confluence.

Seven Deers hand carved Ikasha from a three-and-a-half ton slab of Labradorite harvested from the Canadian Shield. The work took him nearly two years, by which the Shinning Raven Woman project had secured endorsements by Grand Forks’ mayor Brian Taylor and Canadian Governor General Julie Payette.

Mayor and council voted to accept donations on behalf of the project Monday, Nov. 9. Interested donors are asked to make contributions at Grand Forks’ city hall, where they will be issued charitable tax receipts.


@ltritsch1
laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

23489803_web1_201202-GFG-IKASHA_ROTART-IKASHA_3
From the left: Grand Forks sculptor David Seven Deers, Rotary Club President Grant Hill and Shinning Raven Woman Council member Regina Burrows pose for The Gazette at Seven Deers’ 9th Street studio Friday, Nov. 27. Photo: Laurie Tritschler