Vancouver students
put finishing oil onto the sculpture at a ceremony Thursday
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Dave Robinson oils a
carving his students helped create over six weeks, with most
of the classes taking place online. (Gian-Paolo Mendoza/CBC)
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A group of high school students brushed finishing oil onto a sculpture
at a ceremony in Vancouver Thursday, after several weeks of online
video classes where they imagined and planned out what the sculpture
would look like.
Students from various Vancouver high schools were originally supposed
to carve the piece together, but COVID-19 restrictions sidelined
those plans.
Instead, they had to wait until the past few weeks to help carve
and sand parts of the piece with their instructor, Indigenous education
teacher David Robinson, as some COVID-19 restrictions were gradually
lifted.
Robinson said he held online meetings for students to come up with
a theme and vision for the piece.
"I would share some stories that my mom has shared with me ...
from Indigenous histories," Robinson said. "From that, they would
share ... what they heard and they would say what they saw."
Robinson, who is from Timiskaming First Nation in Quebec, led students,
teachers and their parents in a ceremony in Sahalli Park in East
Vancouver, where they spread oil on the carving in front of an audience.
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Robinson's niece watches
as her uncle brushes oil on the finished carving. (Gian-Paolo
Mendoza/CBC)
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Robinson said the shape and texture of the piece represents all
the ideas students shared with each other over six weeks.
"What the piece represents is transformation: transformation of
the education space, of the carving process, and of ourselves within
that process," said Robinson.
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Robinson said the sculpture
was partly inspired by students' interpretations of stories
about Indigenous history his mother shared with him when he
was young. (Gian-Paolo Mendoza/CBC)
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Grade 11 student Dakota Whonnock was a student in the class. She
said the process was strange at first but she was happy to see the
finished piece.
"It was really awkward to position the sculpture and put input
in," she said, noting that the best part of the experience was seeing
a work of art created during a pandemic.
Robinson introduced students as they came up one by one to oil
the sculpture. When Whonnock was called, she introduced herself
using her Indigenous name, Walk'ine'ga meaning "she is the
one we've been waiting for" for the first time.
"I felt really proud," she said.
Six to 10 students participated in the class, which was run by
the Vancouver School Board and the East Van Education Centre. The
sculpture will eventually live at the board's head office.
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A young girl brushes a small bit of oil
onto the sculpture at Sahalli Park in East Vancouver. (Gian-Paolo
Mendoza/CBC)
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