A cedar brushing ceremony and an eagle dance were featured during the official unveiling of the City of New Westminster’s latest public art installation.
Miyíw̓ts – Water’s Edge, by Coast Salish artist James Harry, was recently installed on the south plaza of the new təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre. Perched above a Cor-ten inlay designed in the shape of a Coast Salish eye, the artwork features a 16-foot-tall mirror polished stainless steel sculpture with gold leaf recesses that reflects the strength and power of the site's former Glenbrook Ravine and Coast Salish presence on these lands.
Tuesday’s official unveiling included a traditional Indigenous blessing ceremony performed by members of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation). As part of traditional Squamish protocol, a blessing ceremony is held when unveiling new artwork.
Bob Baker, whose Indigenous name is Saplek, is an elder with the Squamish Nation. He said the ceremony was held to honour creation, nature and the artist who created this beautiful art, and to ask the ancestors to be present – something done through a cedar brushing ceremony.
“Ceremony is very, very important to us,” he said. “And we do it the same way the ancestors have taught us, and it works.”
Baker described the various components of Wednesday’s ceremony to the crowd gathered in front of the city’s newest facility. The ceremony included having four “lady brushers” brushing the sculpture and the artist with cedar boughs, laying blankets on the ground on which Harry stood, and later giving those blankets to Harry, who then gifted them to members of his family and people who had helped him create the sculpture.
Baker described how the cedar boughs used in the ceremony had been harvested and washed in streams and how they would later be returned to those waters. He also explained the significance of the cedar boughs.
“The cedar boughs are used to collect negativity,” he said. “They are used to neutralize negativity or heaviness.”
During the ceremony, Harry was led to the blankets, where women from the Squamish Nation placed a blanket around him – a tradition dating back to the Ice Age.
“It is a way of demonstrating acceptance, demonstrating love, demonstrating a wrap-around – like a big hug,” Baker said. “When we do that, sometimes we elevate, we lift people a little bit higher and we let them know that they're loved and we cover them with a blanket. So, receiving a blanket in ceremony is a great honour.”
Harry said he grew up in New West, where he attended Lord Kelvin Elementary School and New Westminster Secondary School.
“For me, this project has really been coming full circle,” he said. “And I've been really proud to be able to represent my culture in a way that is pushing the traditions in a way that is also acknowledging in the past and our history.”
Harry said the sculpture has been in the works for several years, so it’s a treat to see it come to life.
“The sculpture itself represents the Glenbrook Ravine,” he said. “The whole inspiration for this piece started when I went and walked down, and kind of got inspiration from the shape of the ravine.”
Harry said people, nature and animals are all part of an intricate ecosystem, and Miyíw̓ts – Water’s Edge is symbolic of that interconnectedness.
“I'm really proud to finally see this piece up and to go up, and to have it outside of this beautiful building, the new aquatic centre,” he said. “I used to go to the Canada Games Pool when I was younger, so I really have that connection to this place.”
Community and spirituality
For Wednesday’s unveiling, the artist’s family had called on four individuals to witness the ceremony – Mayor Patrick Johnstone, Lisa Spitale (the city’s chief administrative officer), Coun. Tasha Henderson and Rob McCullough (the city’s manager of museums and archives).
“The important responsibility of a person witnessing is to record accurately everything they see,” Baker said. “So maybe in the event that something may come up in the future, we can call that witness back to validate our ceremony, what it's all about and holding our information, our history intact, is also another reason for witnessing.”
During the ceremony, the family went to the four witnesses and placed two quarters in each of their hands.
“It is not a payment, it's an acknowledgement,” Baker said. “At before times, they would use maybe a piece of stick or something to acknowledge that that person is a part of this ceremony as a witness.”
The four witnesses were each asked to share a few words about what they’d witnessed.
Spitale said the ceremony was the first time she’d been a witness, and she was humbled, emotional and struck by the spirituality of the ceremony. She said she witnessed children, elders, community members and city staff coming together to celebrate an important moment in time for New Westminster:
“The unveiling of this beautiful piece of public art, Indigenous art and one that we're tremendously honoured to have and to be stewards of,” she said. “And I'm also witnessing the fact that all of you are feeling the same immense pride that I feel for our new facility. This is a really important day for New Westminster. We're on a path of reconciliation. And I am humbled by the spirituality and I'm humbled by the sense of community that this this ceremony has brought on for me.”
Henderson said she saw the images of people attending the ceremony reflected in the beautiful artwork.
“Seeing everyone's reflections, and that we are all reflected in that work of reconciliation, that was really powerful for me to literally quite see your reflections in this piece,” she said. “And I hope that we can all walk away continuing to see ourselves and the roles that we play in this journey that we're on."
Wednesday’s ceremony concluded with an eagle song and dance, in which Grade 4 students from École Qayqayt Elementary were invited to soar like eagles around Miyíw̓ts – Water’s Edge, as drummers played an eagle song.
