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Mi’kai’sto Red Crow Community College
By : Entro
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Communication & Branding
Categories : Environmental Design / Mural & Artistic Installation : Silver Certification
Entro recently completed the planning, management and curation of an ambitious two-year art program for Mi’kai’sto (Red Crow Community College) in Standoff, Alberta, a Kainai Blackfoot community located on the Blood Reserve.
Fifteen Blackfoot and other invited artists have created original commissioned works of art for this new college facility – each responding to the program art committee and Elders’ briefing, which conveyed the aspirations for Mi’kai’sto, for the young people and the community, and the importance of the Blackfoot worldview, storytelling and knowledge transfer that through each work, will welcome people into a Blackfoot space.
An important aspect of this program was to facilitate business opportunities within the local Blackfoot community by developing a program of paid commissions for established and emerging artists. Additionally, the art program master plan was instrumental in helping the College obtain long term institutional art loans, and to achieve additional financial support for additional purchases of art by craftspeople and artists who do not have a profile outside of the Blackfoot community.
The Mi’kai’sto project included the design of a bilingual wayfinding program and exterior cultural monument for the 100,000-square-foot facility. The use of Blackfoot language as the primary voice of communications throughout the school is the most culturally significant element of the program and an essential aspect of the Mi’kai’sto identity.
The exterior monument complements the art program’s celebration of Blackfoot culture and stands as a landmark beacon in the community. Its design is derived from the form of a traditional Kainai stand-up headdress. The 22 colourfully patterned and illuminated poles stand in a circle with openings facing East and West, defining an accessible and intimate space for gathering, or the contemplation of the Blackfoot values printed on several of the poles.
Honouring the diversity of Blackfoot experience, voices and culture, the program has helped facilitate meaningful placemaking and community building at Mi’kai’sto.
Quotes:
“The Red Crow Community College has been a beacon of Blackfoot ways of knowing since its inception. The new Red Crow Community College (Mi’kai’sto) will continue that proud history. As a commissioned artist, to contribute to the continuum of Blackfoot visual culture is truly an honour. The importance and transfer of Blackfoot visual knowledge at the college is one of its main objectives; to honour, to encourage, to research and to celebrate the many creative minds and protocols of the Blackfoot. Red Crow Community College is a gathering place, a lodge that protects, promotes and celebrates our past, present and future.” Discipline: Environmental Design
-Adrian Stimson (Apoiskumapi), member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation in southern Alberta
“The art program at Mi’kai’sto is truly unique. Artists were invited to convey Blackfoot culture and history through their own creative spirit. This has resulted in a spectacular Blackfoot space – inclusive, welcoming and one steeped in Blackfoot culture.”
-Lori Van Rooijen (Pii’Takii), Project Director
“We wanted people to feel that they are in a Blackfoot space when they entered the building. We thought the very best way to do that is through art. Each individual piece throughout the building conveys our Blackfoot culture, history and ways of knowing. Collectively, the art tells the story of who we are, where we have been and what our future holds. It is a very special place.
-Lionel Weasel Head (Aapoomiita), Chair of the Board of Governors
Main professionals and consultants who collaborated on the project/product (including your firm)
Firm: Entro, Chris Herringer, Design Director
Firm: Mary-Beth Laviolette, Independent Art Curator and Writer
Artists: (must be credited)
Aa Pa Man Ski (Across Singing), Delia Cross Child
Ahkoiinnimaki (Pipe Woman), Star Crop Eared Wolf
Api’soomaahka, William Singer III
Apoiskumapi (Little Brown Boy), Adrian A. Stimson
Faye HeavyShield
Iikaamannistpo (Speaks more than one language, understand several thought systems), John Chief Calf
Iikaakskitowa (Wounded Mouth), Cowboy Smithx
Iinniiwahkiimah (Buffalo Herder) Terrance Houle
Iniskim Aki (Buffalo Stone Woman), Janice Elizabeth Tanton (artist deeply connected to the Siksika Nation)
Koo Kii (Corner), Ryan Jason Allen Willert
Lauren Crazybull
Mano’taanikaapi, Bryce Many Fingers/Singer
Naatoiyiki (Holy Whistle), Cheyenne McGinnis
Nato’yi’kina’soyi, Hali Heavy Shield
Ponokaki, Marjie Crop Eared Wolf
Consultant team who collaborated on the project:
Firm: Entro, Wayfinding Signage Program; and Art Program Master Plan, Curation and Management
Chris Herringer, Design Director.
Consultant to Entro: Mary-Beth Laviolette, Independent Art Curator and Writer
Entro Design Team: Monika Meyer, Shehrbano Aktar, Kevin Cortez, Aleks Bozovic, Colin Burrows, Sabrina Diehl
Photography: Jason Dziver and Entro
Artwork in Images:
Image 1:
Left:
Faye HeavyShield
KIIKSISTSINOONA/OUR MOTHER, 2022
Right:
Apoiskumapi (Little Brown Boy) Adrian A. Stimson
BLACKFOOT TERRITORIAL ROBE, 2022
Image 2:
Iniskim Aki (Buffalo Stone Woman), Janice Elizabeth Tanton
MI’KAI’STO, 2022
Image 3:
Right:
Api’soomaahka, William Singer III
ISTTANIOKAKSINI/DEEP KNOWLEDGE, 2022
Centre:
Iikaamannistpo (Speaks more than one language, understand several thought systems),
John Chief Calf
NIITSITAPISINNII/THE REAL PEOPLE, OR PURSUIT OF A BALANCED HUMAN BEING, 2022
Image 4:
Iikaakskitowa (Wounded Mouth), Cowboy Smithx
AVATRIIX, 2022
Image 5 and 6:
Mano’taanikaapi, Bryce Many Fingers/Singer
AISTOMATOOMINNIKI/“WHEN YOU HAVE MADE IT PART OF YOUR BODY,” “EMBODYING YOUR KNOWLEDGE.”, 2022
Image 8:
Nato’yi’kina’soyi, Hali Heavy Shield
CARING FOR OUR CHILDREN, 2022
Collaboration
