Major Syilx/Okanagan art work installation complete

The traditional stories of the Syilx/Okanagan people are being shared in a new art installation on the Pelmewash Parkway in Lake Country.

“Three sculptures have been installed along the parkway, providing a significant and beautiful enhancement to this popular cycling and walking route,” staff posted on the District of Lake Country Facebook page.

The Lake Country Public Art Advisory Commission worked with Clint George, Syilx artist from the Penticton Indian Band, and Les Louis, Syilx artist from the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, who combined their skills working in wood and metal to design and create three major sculptures that tell the traditional stories of the Okanagan people.

The Four Food Chiefs sculpture can be found at the south end of Pelmewash Parkway; the Canoe sculpture is located at the mid-point of this route; and at the north end, the Feather sculpture can be found.

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“The Syilx people have Four Food Chiefs that have been a part of Syilx heritage since before our people came to be. Artists Clint George and Les Louis said. “The Four Food Chiefs sculpture carries infinite meaning and reminds us to seek information about why preservation of our valleys, mountains, waters, and sky are so important.”

“The Feather sculpture with the medicine wheel, sun/star blanket, and depictions of Okanagan pictographs integrates the importance of working in harmony with the settlers of our land,” George and Louis said. The Canoe sculpture reminds us of the importance of transportation, working together, and the story of traditional transportation networks of the Syilx people.”

The wood poles carrying the Canoe are carved with the art of the pictographs from the Okanagan territory. The burnished metal of the Four Food Chiefs reflects the changing light of the sun. The central open form of the Feather sculpture provides a visual portal through which the background vistas can be enjoyed.

“We are grateful to the artists who created these sculptures as reminders about how this area along Wood Lake was regularly used for many years by the Syilx people,” Sharon McCoubrey, Chairperson of the Public Art Advisory Commission said.

The $80,000 funding for the commission was provided by the Lake Country Public Art Advisory Commission and Lake Country ArtWalk.