Reconciliation

On a November day in 2009, I was sitting in my office contemplating my community and how public art could make a difference. I began to think about our new airport that had a beautiful piece of art inside but no art outside. If there was art outside of the airport, what should it speak to? What message should it convey?

In the 1960’s, the government wanted to build an airport in this region, but being situated in the Rocky Mountains, there was a serious shortage of flat land big enough for an airstrip. The only suitable land they could find was part of the St. Mary’s Band Indian Reserve and so that land was expropriated. This deeply angered the band members. Their perception was that the government had taken away all of their land to begin with and eventually had given them back a small portion to live in. But, at any moment, the government could come and take that away as well. There was a deep and strong resentment within their community because of this expropriation for the airport.

I began to contemplate whether a piece of public art could possibly bring healing to this deeply divisive issue within our community. I was inspired to develop a vision of reconciliation between the white community and the First Nations people in our area. My goal was to create a narrative sculpture that told a difficult story. A difficult story for the white community to acknowledge and difficult for First Nations to move forward from. It’s the story of a group of people having their land, culture and language forcibly taken from them. The story of how a government systematically sought to eradicate everything that identified them and to fully assimilate them into white culture. My vision was one of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. Could this possibly be achieved through art?

I took my idea to the mayor of Cranbrook, Scott Manjak. Scott told me that he was currently sitting on a committee that was developing treaty negotiations with the St. Mary’s Band and The Ktunaxa People. He said, “We are developing a foundational framework for the treaty. The Elders have named that framework, Reconciliation.” He was very excited about the potential to tie this sculpture to the treaty process. Scott set up a meeting for me with the Ktunaxa Elders and I presented them with my vision to create a piece of art that would represent reconciliation between white people and First Nations.

When I was finished my presentation, one of the Chiefs spoke to me very quietly and deliberately on behalf of everyone present. What she said to me was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard in my life. She explained, “We have identified reconciliation and forgiveness as the single most important goal that we can accomplish in our treaty process, because without forgiveness, no amount of money, no amount of land and no amount of power will mean anything to us. We must forgive in order for us to be able to heal and move forward as a nation. Without forgiveness and reconciliation, everything that we accomplish in our treaty will be worthless.” Tears came to my eyes as the Elders gave me their blessing to continue with the process of developing the sculpture.

Ancient Pictographs from the East Kootenays

My next step was to go to my good friend and artistic cohort, Michael Hepher. Together, we worked on the design of the sculpture and how it would tell the story of the past, present and future relationships between the First Nations and white people. Michael sketched while we talked about all that we wanted the sculpture to represent. I had the idea to use people shapes derived from the ancient pictographs found throughout our region. Michael drew a traditional Ktunaxa sturgeon-nosed canoe and designed the river to which the people were carrying the canoe. The river is a symbol of our lives and the canoe represents how we travel through our lives. At the beginning of the story, the river is smooth, as the lives of native people carried on as it always had. The water becomes quite turbulent as aboriginal people try to navigate their world after the arrival of white people. At this turbulent time, the canoe is weighed down and the aboriginal people are bearing the weight of this change alone. As we move toward the present, the weight of the canoe is lessened, but still considerable and the water, while gradually calming, is still rough. Here, the white man is reaching out a hand to help with the burden of what has happened to the First Nations people. At the end of the narrative, the water is smooth and the weight is lighter as it is borne equally by both groups. The people raise their arms in celebration as they prepare to launch the canoe into the river to travel together in peace and prosperity.

This concept received incredible support from the mayor and city council of Cranbrook, the Columbia Basin Trust, the Canadian Rockies International Airport and from the Ktunaxa Nation. It was a privilege to be able to create the Reconciliation Sculpture and after it was installed there was an amazing unveiling ceremony. One of the most vivid memories I have from that ceremony was when a friend came to me afterwards and said that he had lived in Cranbrook for 20 years and before that day, he had never shaken hands with a Ktunaxa person. Twenty years of living in the same community and having no contact with First Nations people.

The vision of the sculpture was becoming a reality – reconciliation had begun. There’s still a lot of work left to do, but this public artwork has proven to be one of the catalysts for that work to begin.

Unveiling Ceremony

A Tree For Community

Every once in a while you meet someone who wants to do something extraordinary. Not for themselves but for others. The desire to do an amazing thing for other people is rare and it’s a real gift when you meet someone who has this kind of vision.

In 2007 a friend who worked at a local real estate office approached me. This real estate office had been located on the same downtown street for 100 years and the owner, Sharron Billy, wanted to commemorate their 100^th anniversary by giving back to the community that had supported them for all those years. My friend asked if I could create a sculpture that would honor community spirit. The thought of making art that created and built community was a concept that I was immediately excited to get involved in.

I came across a drawing that my friend and at that time employee, Michael Hepher had done. It was a concept drawing of a centerpiece for a ski resort sales office. But it was a project that had never come to be. I was inspired by some of the shapes in the drawing.  I went to Mike with my new vision for a Sculpture that I would call The Spirit Tree and together we worked out a new drawing that represented community spirit. The tree was made of 32 individual metal “roots” coming out of the ground. These roots represent the past – our forefathers and the local First Nations who had built our community. The roots then come together to form the trunk – this is our community growing strong through the efforts of the people who live here – living in unity and working together to build a prosperous future. At the top of the tree the roots branch out and become their own individuals. This represents the people of our community living their lives, being who they are within the community and making their individual contributions. At the end of some of these branches are reflective, stainless steel globes encircled by the ends of the branches – the fruit of living in a vibrant community. People can see themselves in the sculpture and know that they are indeed a part of the community.

When the idea was presented to Sharron, the City of Cranbrook and a local funding agency, the Columbia Basin Trust, everyone was immediately on board. The next question was, “Where should the sculpture go?”  My first thought was the city’s downtown square, which had, in recent years, fallen into disrepair. The area had been “taken over” by some pretty nefarious characters and many local people didn’t feel safe going there. By putting the artwork here, I hoped to revitalize the area and inspire people to see its potential as a source of community pride.

So the project went ahead and has become a success for our city on several different levels. It developed and built a community identity in an area of the city that was previously tarnished. It also returned an area that was unsafe and undesirable to a family-friendly place that could be enjoyed by everyone. Most importantly it gracefully accomplishes its primary goal of honouring the community that supported that local realty office for 100 years. Special thanks to Michael Hepher the City of Cranbrook the Columbia Basin Trust and most importantly, Sharron Billy and Jon McWhirter for the role they played in making this project a reality.

A Dwarf Wizard, a Math Genius, a Renaissance Man and a Superhero

Life can be a difficult, slow and arduous process at times and you don’t get through it alone. I have lived my life with the goal of giving to the people around me as much as I possibly can.  What tends to happen when you live your life in this state of open heartedness is that the people around you, more often than not, give back. I have been so blessed in my life to be surrounded by many people who have given back at least as much, and often more than I’ve given them.

One of the challenges of being a full-time blacksmith is that the work is very repetitive. It puts strain on very specific points on your body. Very early in my training, I developed tendinitis in my right arm. It started in my elbow, then my shoulder, and finally my wrist. I had heard of other people overcoming this by learning to use their opposite hand. I was so in love with the trade that I began the process of learning how to hammer left-handed. I was only 19 years old when I started this difficult and frustrating process.

I can remember my boss, John Smith coming to me with a inferior product and asking, “Paul did you make this?” I would reply, “yes” and he would say, “well why is it so terrible?” and I’d say, “because, I made it with my left hand”. He would walk away shaking his head in frustrated admiration. But slowly I became proficient and whenever my right arm started to hurt too much I would switch to my left. This worked well for a number of years until, in my mid 20s I began to develop tendinitis in my left arm as well. At this point I had to make a decision. I had to either teach others how to do the heavy work or get out of blacksmithing altogether. So while I was working at Fort Steele, I began to hire people and train them. This became one of the best things that I’ve ever done. By opening myself, and my creative process up to others, my life and the lives of others were enriched. These new people in my life began to give me feedback and encouragement. Some of them became very crucial to my development as an artist.

One of the first people I hired was an 18-year-old kid right out of high school, who had the body of a dwarf and the mind of a wizard. Alex Marriott is short and stocky without much of a distinguishable neck. His body was made to do the things that make my body break! He can swing a four-pound hammer all day long while discussing ancient Greek philosophy and not break a sweat with either one. He has made massive contributions to many of the projects that are distinctively, “Paul Reimer”. He continues to be a passionate blacksmith and dedicated friend after 18 years.

The Renaissance Man & The Dwarf Wizard

The Math Genius

I also hired one of my brothers from a different mother. Rick Friesen is my childhood best friend’s little brother. And he is way smarter than I am. Some of the most beautiful architectural projects that I’ve done require intensive math. Rick could do the math and the engineering side of these projects so easily that it made my head swim.

One of the biggest artistic influences in my life, I just happened to casually hire in a coffee shop one day. Little did I know that Mike Hepher is a modern-day Renaissance Man. Easily one of the most well rounded artistic talents that I’ve ever met, Mike can do it all. He picked up blacksmithing like he’d been doing it for years and I soon found out that it didn’t matter what it was, from painting to sculpture to pen and ink drawings and now woodcut prints there’s pretty much nothing that he doesn’t excel in. Mike is the co-artist for many of my public art projects, but most importantly he is a great friend.

The Superhero

When Rick decided to leave the shop and go back to school to become a teacher, he recommended that I hire Josh Fennema. Josh seemed like an ordinary guy when I first hired him, but it quickly became obvious that he was a superhero in disguise. Whenever there was a problem Josh’s amazing problem-solving skills would appear to save the day. Josh has a unique ability to stand back, calmly and quietly analyze a crisis situation and come up with a solution that works, every time.

I’ve had a couple of dozen people come and go as members of my team over the past 20 years. Every person that has worked with me has, in some way, made a special contribution. There are too many people to name them all here but to you all, I want to say a big thank you.

A friend of mine who owns his own business once gave me a great piece of advice. He said, “When hiring employees first try to recognize the things that need to be done that you’re not very good at. Then try to hire the people that can do those things much better than you can.” I’ve tried to follow that advice and many of the people that I’ve worked with definitely fit that description!