Latest / Community Champion of the Week / Nehiyaw Isko artist Cheyenne Rain, Bigstone Cree Nation

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Nehiyaw Isko artist Cheyenne Rain, Bigstone Cree Nation · Community Champion of the Week

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Cheyenne Rain Legrand.
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm an artist from Big Stone Cookie Nation.
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  SPEAKER_00: You're this week's community champion.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tell me about your art and how much you have such an impact in the community.
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  SPEAKER_01: I've been a kind of professional practicing artist since 2019 and when I graduated from OnlyCar.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I've been been working in a Miskouchiwaskagan since then.
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  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I've recently had the opportunity to create an amazing public art piece for Holock Park.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh with this, my goal was to really honor the indigenous community here in Edmonton and create a piece that kind of speaks to Indigenous futurism.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of my work I'm kind of working through intergenerational trauma, but kind of more speaking about my identity here today and kind of that journey of healing.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: And my work has come to a place of being about indigenous joy and indigenous resilience.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And those are some of the things that I want um to be felt when people see my work is joy and love.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
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  SPEAKER_00: So you were actually selected as one of BC's prize for BMO for the art prize.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: How did that make you feel getting recognized by the community?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: That was really, really cool.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, that's when I was like living in Vancouver and to, yeah, be recognized in that way in all of the work that I had done through school was is kind of really special because that was right after I graduated.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: So to receive that kind of recognition really, you know, as an indigenous person really made me believe what was possible and um that I could be an artist and kind of make a career out of being a professional artist.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, Shaga, your new art piece is going to be displayed at a local park here in Edmonton.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us more details.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so this piece is really inspired by Indigenous Futurism.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking a lot about uh beadwork and kind of this idea of wanting to enlarge a bead.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I started to think through more kind of contemporary bead forms like a beaded fringe earring.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So this piece actually is going to be essentially a giant beaded earring.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's gonna include the colors of the rainbow to kind of speak about my queer identity and kind of honor um two spirit and queer peop indigenous people.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, so it's gonna be 14 feet tall.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's made out of fiberglass, um, and the unveiling will be happening on May 30th.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm very excited to see this work um kind of go up.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be in front of the water, which will be so beautiful, and yeah, I'm just really thankful to get to share this work.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Joanna, the unveiling will happen on May 30th at 11 a.m.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm having my elder come.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: My mother is gonna sing, it's gonna be an amazing event.