Sky River
Kathryn Corbiere is creating Sky River, a new public artwork soon to be on display in the Great Hall in Mississauga’s Civic Centre.
Kathryn Corbiere, Forthcoming
Mississauga Civic Centre, 300 City Centre Drive
About the artwork
Crafted in copper, the two ribbons reference the historically, culturally, and ecologically important Credit River who has nourished communities since time immemorial. Copper has been important to Indigenous tribes for 8500 years, sourced from deposits around the Great Lakes, and traded over thousands of miles of forests, fields, and waterways throughout Turtle Island. Believed to heal, cleanse, and to amplify water prayers, copper was—and continues to be—actively carried in sacred bundles, and is the material used for water vessels including those carried on water walks by Indigenous women.
The sculpture honours the sacredness of water, and invokes the covenant of the Two Row Wampum, reminding us of the complexities of our histories and the possibilities of a shared future between Nations within an ethos of creativity, respect, equity, mutual autonomy, and friendship. The central circle invites us to gather and converse within a spirit of shared governance and community.
Artwork renderings
About the artist
Kathryn Corbiere is an Anishinaabekwe artist from M’Chigeeng First Nation in Manitoulin Island, who embraces both traditional and contemporary metal and crafting practices.
Influenced by her families’ traditional crafting and quill practices, she is interested in the integration of traditional visual forms, shapes, and processes into metal work, and is increasingly exploring the conversation between strong lines and curves.
Follow the artist on Instagram
Through an open call to artists, the City’s public art program invited Indigenous artists and Indigenous-led artist teams, who had a connection to Ontario and Indigenous communities in the area, to submit expressions of interest. Submissions were evaluated by an independent Indigenous art selection committee, and three applicants were shortlisted and invited to develop proposals.
The art selection committee was comprised of individuals with expertise in visual art, architecture, curatorial practice, arts education, lived experience, and knowledge of the local neighbourhood and treaty partners. The art selection committee selected Sky River based on the selection criteria.