KSAHKOMIITAPIIKS (EARTH BEINGS)

Informed by the land and those who have nurtured this earth for millennia, Contemporary Calgary launches a holistic artist residency led by Indigenous mentors. 

“This residency is mentored by the land itself; your art is being led by your relationship with the land, or the relationship you hope to have with the land.” - Faye Heavyshield 

Contemporary Calgary is pleased to welcome this year’s resident of Ksahkomiitapiiks, Star Crop Eared Wolf. 

Star Crop Eared Wolf is a Niitsiitapi multidisciplinary artist and member of the Kainai Nation. Crop Eared Wolf graduated from The University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Native Art and Museum Studies. Her past and current media include painting, sculpture, photography, video and beading. She uses her art practices to explore themes centered around Land, culture, social and political issues impacting Indigenous peoples.

Star will be mentored by Adrian Stimson, a member of Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation. He has a BFA from the Alberta University for the Arts and an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan and is an interdisciplinary artist who exhibits nationally and internationally.

About Ksahkomiitapiiks (Earth Beings)

Ksahkomiitapiiks is an annual residency of dynamic public programs and responsive art works that interrogate and nurture our relationships with the land.

Ksahkomiitapiiks, interpreted in English as “Earth Beings,” is an inclusive term serving as both a noun and a verb; embodying who we are and what we create as guests on this earth. An invocation for a blessing whenever spoken - a call for prayer, witness and inspiration, we are Ksahkomiitapiiks. This series is an introspection on our ever-evolving languages and ordnance of how we choose to honour the land we occupy, as well as our ancestral custodians. 

Developed in consultation with an Advisory Committee of Indigenous Community Members and Elders, Faye HeavyShield, Clarence Wolfleg Sr. and Adrian Stimson. Each annual art work will be placed in the center of Contemporary Calgary’s atrium, over Helena Hadala’s original Mosaic (1979), a piece that represents the Earth with Calgary at its center. By way of a workshop with the team, we’d like to reflect on our personal and collective connections with the land.  

Each artist will be paired with an Indigenous mentor, working together to build a creative and empathetic partnership. For the first commission, installed on June 21, 2023, we invite Adrian Stimson as our mentor. Our inaugural artist will be announced on September 30, 2022.

We’d like to invite the larger Contemporary Calgary family and community, which includes visitors and members, to also reflect on the land. This reflection is dependent on a grounded understanding in the past and the future, in knowing who we are today has been informed by those who lived before us, and who will become is dependent on who we are right now. It is time to understand what it means to acknowledge the land and honour our relationships to Mother Earth and her keepers. Under the guidance and understanding of artists and elders, we will explore what it means to be Ksahkomiitapiiks.  

More About Our Mentor

Adrian’s paintings are primarily monochromatic, often depicting bison in imagined landscapes. Melancholic, memorializing, and sometimes whimsical, they evoke ideas of cultural fragility, resilience and nostalgia. Stimson is renowned for his performance art, particularly his persona, Buffalo Boy, whom he embodies to consider the hybridization of the Indian, the cowboy, the shaman and Two Spirit being. 

His installation work predominantly examines the residential school experience; he attended three residential schools in his life and has used the material culture from Old Sun Residential School on his Nation to create works that speak to genocide, loss, and resilience. 

Stimson was awarded the Governor General Award for Visual and Media Arts in 2018, Reveal Indigenous Arts Award - Hnatyshyn Foundation in 2017, Blackfoot Visual Arts Award in 2009, Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND ELDERS 

Faye Heavyshield

Faye HeavyShield, of the Kainai (Blood) Nation, was born and raised on the Blood Reserve in Southern Alberta, and is a fluent speaker of her first language, Blackfoot. 

Heavyshield studied at the Alberta College of Art in 1980 - 85 and focused her art on images of memory, environment, body and language in a minimalist sense with Land and rivers as significant influences.

HeavyShield has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and the US. Her work is found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the McMichael Museum, Alberta Foundation of Art, the Glenbow and in other public and private collections. HeavyShield is a recipient of the 2021 Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award and the 2021 Gershon Iskowitz Prize.

Clarence Wolfleg Miiksika’am: Warrior, Leader & Teacher

A member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation.Elder Miiksika'am holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Mount Royal University, his exemplary leadership in Calgary, Alberta and Canada is recognized around the city. Born in 1948 in the Siksika Nation, Broken Knife, as he was called as a child, was barely seven years old when he was taken to live at the Old Sun Indian Residential school for five years. It was there he was named Clarence Wolfleg.

Miiksika'am went on to attend public school, graduating from Crescent Heights High School in Calgary in 1966. At 17 years old, like his father had done before him, he joined the military, serving in the Canadian Regular Forces with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery where he would earn three medals.  

After serving in the United Nations' peacekeeping initiatives in Cypress and NATO Forces Continental Europe missions during the Cold War,  his military service came to an end and soon after he became a  police officer with the Blackfoot Tribal Police, which he eventually headed. His other roles included directing outpatient services at Siksika Alcohol Services and serving ten terms on the Siksika Nation Council. He was also recognized with a headdress, given the name Miiksika'am, initiated into the Crazy Dog Society, and was bestowed a sacred bundle and warrior pipe from the Horn Society.

Elder Miiksika’am now speaks to younger generations about restorative justice, residential schools, and stories from his past. He is also a spiritual advisor for multiple groups and organizations and played a major role in facilitating the creation of the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park

Adrian A. Stimson

Is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation. He has a BFA from the Alberta University for the Arts and an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan. Adrian is an interdisciplinary artist who exhibits nationally and internationally. His paintings are primarily monochromatic, often depicting bison in imagined landscapes. Melancholic, memorializing, and sometimes whimsical, they evoke ideas of cultural fragility, resilience and nostalgia. Stimson is renowned for his performance art, particularly his persona, Buffalo Boy, whom he embodies to consider the hybridization of the Indian, the cowboy, the shaman and Two Spirit being. His installation work predominantly examines the residential school experience; he attended three residential schools in his life and has used the material culture from Old Sun Residential School on his Nation to create works that speak to genocide, loss, and resilience. Stimson was awarded the Governor General Award for Visual and Media Arts in 2018, Reveal Indigenous Arts Award - Hnatyshyn Foundation in 2017, Blackfoot Visual Arts Award in 2009, Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003.