A HUGE 14-foot beaded earring is about to go up in Hawrelak Park
A massive Indigenous beaded earring sculpture will be unveiled in Hawrelak Park tomorrow, and the city’s newest public art piece is about to make watching the Edmonton sunset even more striking.
Misi-mîkisak is a 14-foot-tall beaded earring constructed from colourfully painted fibreglass. The contemporary interpretation pays homage to the long history Indigenous people have with beads and beadwork.
The piece was created by Nehiyaw Isko artist Cheyenne Rain LeGrande of Bigstone Cree Nation. She is based in Edmonton and earned her BFA in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University in 2019.
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In addition to her new permanent installation, LeGrande was selected as the winner of the B.C. prize for BMO 1st Art! emerging artist competition and has received the Moment Factory Award for her piece, Nehiyaw Isko.
Working across multiple disciplines, LeGrande works with installation, photography, video, sound, and performance art.
We caught up with LeGrande ahead of the installation. She told us the opportunity came through an open call across Canada facilitated by the Edmonton Arts Council. LeGrande applied, was shortlisted, and was ultimately selected for the project about a year ago.
“I think, too, it was really important for me that, even if I wasn’t selected, they were choosing an Indigenous artist,” she told us. “I think Hawrelak Park and that land — it’s really, really cool that they chose an Indigenous artist to do this piece.”
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LeGrande’s intention was to reimagine traditional Indigenous beadwork, tracing its evolution from floral beadwork on hides to contemporary Indigenous fashion. Her concept centred around “enlarging the bead,” turning a small, intricate object into a large-scale sculpture.
The pastel colours are intentional and deeply personal. The pastel-rainbow palette is an expression of queer identity and pride, while also evoking feelings of joy and love.
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“I was thinking a lot about the sunsets that will happen in Hawrelak Park,” she said. “So the top of the piece is pastel pink, orange, and yellow. I thought it would be really beautiful when the sky is reflected in the piece.”
The sculpture was constructed from fibreglass in partnership with a local fabrication company. It was built using 3D-printed moulds, forming two separate pieces that were later joined together.
Fibreglass was poured into the moulds and assembled into the final structure before a glossy finish was applied.
“It really resembles a little glass bead,” she said. “I’m so excited to see it go up. It’s very exciting, very surreal, and I’m really thankful.”
Along with the excitement, Cheyenne said Misi-mîkisak represents not only herself, but also her family, community, and Indigenous people in Edmonton more broadly.
“I really wanted this piece to represent us and celebrate Indigenous people, Indigenous fashion, and our beautiful beadwork,” she said. “It means so much to have a piece that encapsulates all of that in such a big park in Edmonton.”
Misi-mîkisak will be installed near the lake and officially unveiled at Hawrelak Park’s grand reopening on Saturday at 11 a.m.