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Contents - Winter 2008

Vol. 1 No. 1

Stories of Stones and Bones

By Mari-Louise Rowley

Early settlers of the Prairies saw stones as debris to be cleared from the land to make way for farming. For Indigenous peoples who have lived on the Great Plains for centuries, stones are imbued with power, purpose and meaning.

Mary Longman and child near one of her sculptures

Mary Longman and son Art with detail of "Ancestors Rising" work in progress, 2006. Photo courtesy Mary Longman.

First Nations artist and art history professor Mary Longman uses the traditional Plains culture medium of stone to create sculptures that interweave the past and present, mythology and history.

“I believe the natural power of the stone will invite the viewer to share the experience of First Nations today and will open the door for communication and connection,” says Longman, whose work has been displayed at prominent galleries that include the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Smithsonian.

For Longman, stones are a connecting link to the past and present, tracing the history and cultural practices of Plains people through time.

Stones served practical purposes in tipi rings, fire pits, burial sites, tools and weapons, as well as in historical markers to commemorate and document important places, events or people. Stone was used as a medium for communication with the spiritual realm. Art intertwined with spirituality in the form of medicine wheels, pictographs, petroglyphs, sacred boulders, amulets and pipes.

Elk Woman's Strength sculpture by Mary Longman, 2004

"Elk Woman’s Strength", 2004. Bone, antler, Matrix G, stone, synthetic hair. 102 x 127 x 150 cm. Photo courtesy Mary Longman.

“Indigenous peoples believe that everything in existence, whether animate or inanimate, has spirit and energy,” Longman explains. “People are still intuitively drawn to the energy of a stone. We observe them, appreciate them, assemble them, give them a special place in our home, or give them to someone special in our life.”

Of Saulteaux ancestry, Longman grew up on the Gordon First Nation near Punnichy, Saskatchewan. When she was only five, she was taken from her family and placed under foster care. “In the ’60s, if you weren’t taken from your family to be sent to residential schools, you were sent to foster homes. I didn’t see my mother for 11 years. I was fortunate to find my family again while I was in my teens. Many others are still searching.”

Longman’s ancestry and personal experiences inform the political and personal narratives in her work—stories that she believes are important to share. “I have had the challenges of a dual existence—living in two vastly different worlds that often have cultural collisions. I have had to walk both sides of the Canadian and First Nations cultural fence in order to speak to both audiences through my work.”

Thunderbird Nest sculpture by Mary Longnman, 2000

"Thunderbird Nest", 2000. Cottonwood, Matrix G, rocks, ostrich egg, raffia. 60 x 76 x 72 cm. Photo courtesy Mary Longman.

Her stone, wood and mixed media sculpture Thunderbird Nest has a personal connection to her own family name, Aski-piyesiwiskwew, which was given to her by her great-grandmother and means Earth Thunderbird Woman. In First Nations mythology, the Thunderbird was a powerful protector and also brought life-giving rains.

“The Thunderbird Nest is my imagining of what the nest of this old and mysterious bird looked like long ago. I wanted to revive the stories of the Thunderbird and the power and possibilities that it represents,” says Longman.

Ancestors Rising, a permanent installation in Wascana Park, was commissioned by Regina’s MacKenzie Art Gallery. This site-specific sculpture speaks to the history of the area and acknowledges a critical time of intersection between First Nations and early settlers. The bison were a key symbol of this history.

The work symbolizes the strength of the bison and its importance as a source of food, clothing, shelter and cultural artifacts for First Nations people. It also reflects a darker side of Plains history—the systematic buffalo slaughter by European colonists.

Ancestors Rising sculpture by Mary Longman, 2006

"Ancestors Rising", 2006. Bronze and rocks. Diameter 20 ft. Each horn 54 x 228 in. Photo courtesy Mary Longman.

Ancestors Rising is an urban historical marker that memorializes the First Nations and bison that lived on this land only 200 years ago and are now buried under the very soil we walk upon. I ask the audience to bear witness to this history, to acknowledge it and to give this place and its spirits the respect and commemoration they deserve.”

Longman received her master’s degree in fine arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a PhD in art education from the University of Victoria. She was a faculty member at U Vic, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, as well as dean of White Mountain Academy of Arts, before coming to the U of S this year.

As associate professor of art history, Longman will be establishing eight new courses—the first comprehensive First Nations art history program in Canada.

“ Art documents history; that’s why it is so important to society. Without art, we wouldn’t be able to look back in time to trace our history and cultural practices.”
– U of S art history professor Mary Longman

“One of the reasons I came to the U of S was because of the campus-wide initiative to increase Aboriginal scholarship,” says Longman.

As an academic and artist, Longman’s work is grounded in theory but resonates with personal experience, landscape and history—the stones and bones that have created this province and country.

Piles of bison bones awaiting shipment, ca 1890. Photo courtesy of Saskatchewan Archives.

Pile-of-Bones: Saskatchewan’s Dark History

When explorers and fur traders arrived in southern Saskatchewan around 1857, they saw piles of bison bones placed along the river by First Nations people. The Cree believed bison would not leave an area that contained the bones of other bison. The settlement was named Wascana, a variation of a Cree word meaning “where the bones are piled.”

The name took on a more devastating meaning as new piles of bison bones were made by white settlers, who systematically killed bison for sport or profit. Bison hides were prized for buffalo coats, and the bones were sold for fertilizer and chinaware.

Early 19th century accounts estimated the bison population in the millions, with herds that numbered in the tens of thousands and stretched across the Plains as far as the eye could see. By the end of that century, only a few hundred head remained. The extermination of the bison resulted in mass starvation—and the end of a way of life for Plains First Nations.

Contents - Winter 2008

Stories of Stones and Bones

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