The tipi was raised at noon on Friday, August 15, 1997 in the Tipi Village at the Canada Summer Games site, Brandon, Manitoba. A pipe ceremony was conducted by elders Mary and Solomon Hall of Sioux Valley, Manitoba and a feast was provided by the students. At the conclusion of the Summer Games it was set up on the campus of Brandon University to welcome all to a new year.
The painted sun on the eastern door cover symbolically welcomes the sun into and out of the tipi during it's daily journey. The cover is made with the intention to invite not only the sun, but everyone into the tipi. The red hands radiating from the sun are the hands of those who painted this tipi. The painted hand imprint is a most ancient image recorded by humans. It is a clear message of human presence and all that humanity means. These hands are reaching out like the rays of the sun to greet all with warmth in the 'Welcome Lodge'.
Dimensions
158 X 122 cm
Size Overall
same as image
Medium
acrylic
Notes
Designed and painted by the students of the Experiments in Traditional Art Forms class of 1997.
Condition
Canvas is heavily creased from storage. Severe cracks in paint throughout. Water stain in area TM, as well as a brown stain in area RM. There is a 66 cm vertical gash down the center of the image, but has been sewn up.
Gary Burnett lives in Brandon. His work was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba and is included in many private collections (1996 inventory).
Dimensions
182.5 X 244.5 cm
Size Overall
same as image
Medium
acrylic
Condition
Minor scratches on BR side. Surface piece of masonite peeled off at 65cm from bottom and 53cm from left.
"The medicine wheels played an important part in the lives of native Americans as far back as 3000 BC For centuries, these stone rings helped provide information about solstices, equinoxes and other astrological orders. Colleen Cutschall's installation "Catching the Sun's Tail" focuses on the possible 'ritual' function of the medicine wheel as a medium uniting the human and the celestial forces. Human and spiritual symbolisms are both represented in this installation. The human element is presented in the silhouettes of figures joining in a circle around the wheel. The clouds, the buffalo skull and the lightbeams represent the mystical powers of the universe. The momentum of the harmonious union between man and the universe is captured in the interplay between these symbols. (M.S.)"
