Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

NUNAVUT
British Columbia carver Carey Newman's mission to create a witness blanket out of items from the residential school era has captured the attention of a reverend in Rankin Inlet.

Jamie Lewis demonstrates blanketing. The blanket was designed by Victoria-based British Columbia artist Carey Newman. - Danielle Sachs/NNSL photo

Paul Williams of the Holy Comforter Anglican Church said he is in support of the project because he feels it will not only serve as a reminder of the travesties that happened in residential schools, but it will also help those involved in residential schools, including the people in the churches, grow beyond the past.

It allows for remembrance and healing, he said.

"I think that this is another step in trying to avoid repeating some of the horrific events that occurred," said Williams.

Newman is in the process of collecting stories, photos, personal items and pieces of institutions to use in his sculpture. Once he finishes, he will spend the following few months creating an almost two-and-a-half-metre tall and nine-metre wide blanket using cedar, steel cable and the donated pieces.

"A lot of people have difficulty envisioning a blanket made out of these materials so the best way I know to describe it is to think of a beaded bracelet," said the artist, who has Coast Salish and Kwagiulth roots. "It's all little, tiny, solid objects that are strung together to make a flexible sort of textile like surface."

As part of the project, which is funded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Newman is also creating a virtual blanket. The online version will allow users to click on an item and access any content connected to the piece, such as video.

Newman said his inspiration for the artwork comes from his own father's experience with residential schools in Sechelt, B.C. and Mission, B.C. His father was eight years old when he was taken from his family and brought to residential school.

"I grew up knowing that he went but not knowing a lot of details about what happened. He didn't talk about it very much and he did it to protect me and my sisters from having to know about the horrors he encountered," said Newman. "I wanted to do something to honour him and all of the survivors. I also wanted to leave a legacy. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and I wanted to leave something so what that generation went through wouldn't be forgotten."

The blanket holds significance in many cultures, he said. On his Coast Salish side, for instance, if someone wants to support a person going through a difficult time they stand them up in front of the community and wrap them in a blanket.

"The blanket is a symbol of us holding them," he said.

For the past few months, Jamie Lewis and Rosy Steinhauer have been travelling across Canada to collect items for Newman to use in his sculpture. During a visit to the Blood Reserve in Cardston, Alta., Steinhauer was gifted a large brass door knob from the staff residence of St. Paul's Indian Residential School, as well as some brick and a roof tile. In another trip, she picked up sandstone from the Red Deer Industrial Institute and more recently, the pair stopped in Iqaluit where St. Jude's Anglican Church donated a prayer book translated into Inuktitut.

"We've been very fortunate to have as much community support as we've had," said Lewis. "Everybody has just been very helpful and receptive to the project."

Williams has also committed to adding to the artwork. He plans to donate a piece of wood carved by one of the former pastors which hung in the original Holy Comforter church building until it burnt down in 1991.

"(It's significant) because it was in the church at that particular time frame and because it came from a church that was built in large part for people who were struggling through the residential school period," he said.

Anyone who wishes to donate an item to Newman's project is invited to visit the Witness Blanket website.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.