At a special prayer service and ceremony, St. Thomas Aquinas High School students had an opportunity to learn about their new mosaic and fused glass art installation recently installed in the chapel. The 16-foot mural blends the Anishinabe Grandfather Teachings with the Catholic Graduate Expectations. Approximately 50 students worked on the art piece, under the guidance of Artist in Residence, Betty Wires, art teacher Nancy Prouty and Elder in Residence Howard Copenace.
Nancy Prouty talks about the inspiration for the mural.
"I knew I wanted to create a piece of art around the Catholic Graduate Expectations. When I was at our First Nation, Metis and Inuit
professional development day, and I heard our Elder in Residence, Howard Copenace talking about the Grandfather teachings and I realized how seamlessly the teachings blend together. We worked with Howard and other local Elders. What the Elders revealed through ceremonies is that there is now an eighth Grandfather Teaching that is unique to our Treaty #3 area. The eighth Grandfather Teaching is a beautiful teaching about forgiveness and is represented by the rock. All of these teachings are visually displayed in the artwork."
The installation includes visuals that link the Anishinabe animal in the Grandfather Teaching to the values of the Catholic Graduate Expectations.
The eighth teaching that was
revealed through this process is forgiveness and is represented by rock from the Lake of the Woods area.
Elder in Residence, Howard Copenace talks about the eighth teaching of forgiveness and how it came to be. "Our people have always talked about things that are equal. A man and a woman, the four directions, the four seasons, good and bad, day and night. Everything is equal and so the Elders have wondered about the Grandfather teachings. Our Elders had a ceremony, and they learned that the eighth teaching is forgiveness. We hurt ourselves. We hurt others and others hurt us. That is where forgiveness comes in. We cannot carry our hurt in backpacks with us through life's journey. We have to let go and forgive and go forward
with life in a good way instead of looking back at things we cannot change."
The mural took approximately four full weeks to create from start to finish. Students took ownership of the artwork and did all the cutting, glueing and grouting of the pieces. Betty Wires talks about the role that she played as the Artist in Residence. "I taught the students skills and knowledge on how to make the mosaic, the tools, glass and how all the design elements function together. I was impressed with the students involved in the project. They were all senior art students, and were interested in art and have the knowledge on how to explore new techniques and new forms of art. They worked as teams, had ownership of a section of the mosaic." Wires continues, "What makes the piece unique is the wood elements as well as the glass elements, both mosaic and fused. Coupled with the strong messages of the Grandfather teachers and the Catholic Graduate Expectations. It's a powerful mosaic and it's a thrill to see it in the chapel. It's something to be proud of."
Following the prayer service student were able to hear about the meaning behind the components of the mural, and had an opportunity to take a pilgrimage from the gym to the chapel to observe the mural and listen to traditional drumming led by Howard and the St. Thomas Aquinas High School drummers.
A special note of appreciation to Gerard Dufresne, Facilities Supervisor for his engineering in hanging the mural in its new home in the chapel.
Here are some images of the students creating the installation: