DEPARTMENT NEWS
Sculpture Commissioned by City of Lacombe from MANS Students/Philanthropists
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n September 26, in a public ceremony with city dignitaries and members of the Maskwacis community, he City of Lacombe unveiled a sculpture created at Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS) by two students and vice-principal Mike Willing in the Leon Ingraham Industrial Arts/CTS Building. The City’s public art committee enthusiastically endorsed the proposal for Miweyihtowin (Cree for “affinity for each other”), which was created over the summer by Eileen Firingstoney (grade 11), Tessa
Potts (class of 2020), and Mike Willing (vice principal, junior and senior high school). The artists invested 450 hours in the welded steel sculpture that was installed adjacent to the traffic circle at the intersection of College Avenue and Calgary-Edmonton Trail. Firingstoney and Potts, upon learning of unexpected costs for COVID-19 measures mandated this fall, donated a significant part of their commission proceeds to MANS, thus becoming the school’s first major donors from currently-enrolled students and recently-graduated alumni.
Miweyihtowin, (Cree for “Affinity for Each Other”) depicts sharp-tailed grouse, also known as “prairie chickens,” which were an important food source for both First Nations and settlers after the bison were decimated. Photo by Todd Vaughan, City of Lacombe Photo by Todd Vaughan
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Alberta Adventist News
OCTOBER 2020
