Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 02/05) - A light drizzle brought out the textures and colours of some new landscape art in front of McAvoy Rock in Old Town yesterday morning.

Members of the Federation Franco-Tenoise gathered there to celebrate the inauguration of the second phase of the McAvoy Rock Cross-Cultural Project yesterday morning.

Old town installations

Dene carver John Sabourin and landscape artist Diane Boudreau introduced their installations in front of McAvoy Rock in Old Town.

Sabourin's granite carving honours women of the North on one side and the relationship between First Peoples and the French traders on the other side. Boudreau's bright wooden benches offer a place to view the art and its natural surroundings.

Federation president Fernand Denault thanked the artists and acknowledged the contribution from the three levels of government in this large-scale project.

"It's important to celebrate who we are and where we are," he said. "That's what makes us whole."

Representatives from the city and the GNWT spoke at the event.

Second phase

The second phase of the McAvoy Rock Cross-Cultural Project comprised two elements: the addition on the site of a granite sculpture carved by Sabourin, as well as two colourful wooden benches designed by Boudreau.

Landscaping around the benches will complete this year's work.

The initial phase of the project began in 1999 with the creation of a marble sculpture by Yellowknife artist Sonny MacDonald; Sabourin, who is originally from Fort Simpson; Eli Nasogaluak, from Tuktoyaktuk; and accompanied by Armand Vaillancourt from Montreal.

This marble sculpture is on permanent exhibit in the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly. A bronze copy of the sculpture sits at the foot of McAvoy Rock.

Multi-coloured symbols

The first phase also saw the creation of 1,500 multi-coloured symbols painted directly onto the facade of the Rock and the installation of a teepee at the summit.

The Federation is exploring the possibility of creating a Sacred Circle comprised of a series of additional stone carvings at the top of the rock.

Those sculptures might be completed by carvers from other circumpolar countries. Stairs would improve access to the site.