Culture News Blog

VANCOUVER - The Vancouver 2010 Olympics have already started a public art program that will eventually result in works by aboriginal artists permanently installed at all 15 Olympic and Paralympic venues.

The Richmond Oval, the site of speedskating, is among the first venues to get aboriginal art under the program.

The work of Musqueam artist Susan Point can be seen on 15 concrete buttresses on the north exterior of the building.

Inspired by salmon, cranes and the Fraser River, the sculptures are 6.1 metres high and 76 centimetres wide.

Shaped like big raindrops, the oval salmon and triangles on the buttresses look as fluid as the water that will be flowing in the drainage system once the building is completed. The sculptures are a contemporary interpretation of traditional Coast Salish house posts.

The aboriginal arts program is hoping for more applications from First Nations artists such as Point. But the program isn't limited to established aboriginal artists from Vancouver.

Connie Watts, program manager, said the program is open to aboriginal artists across the country, including women working in traditional fields such as weaving, youths in mentorship programs and emerging artists.

"We're definitely targeting established artists but we really want an inclusive program to show the diversity of the aboriginal community," she said. "I want it to be an open and inclusive program. We're encouraging all artists to apply."

Dan Doyle, executive vice-president of construction, said one of Olympic committee's founding partnerships is with the Four Host First Nations, part of the 2010 Games since the initial bid stage.

"We wanted to represent their culture and our collective culture in all of the venues," Doyle said.

Another aboriginal art work has already been installed at the new Thunderbird Arena at the University of B.C. The work in the arena entrance is by Joe Becker from Direction 7, a Musqueam art group.

In each venue, there will be welcoming works in the main entrance area from one of the Four Host First Nations, on whose territories the 2010 Games are taking place: Musqueam, Squamish, Lil'wat and Tsleil-Waututh. The works will welcome visitors from around the world to the traditional lands of the First Nations people of the region.

In addition to the welcoming works, the program is also looking for more contemporary and traditional art works by First Nations, Inuit and Metis. The program's budget is $2 million.

Watts said the goal is to show the diversity of art produced by aboriginal artists from coast to coast to coast.

"I think we're really trying to create a diversity and a snapshot of what Canadian Aboriginal Peoples are about," she said.

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