Indigenous artists creating murals at Banff's historic Cave and Basin site

A group of Indigenous artists have been invited to create murals at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site in Banff National Park.

The mentorship mural project is a partnership between Parks Canada and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies and is in its third year.

Dawn Saunders Dahl, the museum's manager of Indigenous programs and relationships, serves as a mentor for the artists.

"All of the artists have been encouraged to talk about stories of their connections to the hot springs, to Banff, to the mountains," she said.

"And have that opportunity to talk about their community, their culture's connection to this amazing place in Banff when they haven't been able to tell those stories in the past as much."

Saunders Dahl says six artists were invited from two nations.

Cheyenne Bearspaw, Giona Smalleyes, Jarron Poucette and Kyle Kaquitts represent the Stoney Nation. Kristy North Peigan and Brendon Many Bears are from the Blackfoot Nation.

The artists are also mentored by Joseph Sanchez, AJA Louden, Bruno Canadien and Nathan Meguinis.

"We're all experienced artists and helping all of them with technique, with colour choice, with all kinds of skills so that they can get (their thoughts painted on the murals) a little bit faster when some of them maybe didn't go to art school," said Saunders Dahl.

"They're just still trying to practice their skills and we're just giving them a little bit of a leg up so that they can have really beautiful pieces by the time this wraps up."

• In Pictures: Indigenous artists create murals for Banff's Cave and Basin

Donna Livingstone, the CEO of the Whyte Museum, says in the three years of the pilot mentorship program with Parks Canada, several artists have participated and it's important for the museum to recognize Indigenous culture in the mountain park.

"It's kind of a palpable way of seeing contemporary art and what's happening and it allows the Indigenous artists to emerge and to tell their own stories," she said.

"Quite often they've drawn on our archives, and our collections come in and seeing things and then that's sparked them with new ideas so we see the stories coming out of our collection and going on the walls, but also going into their creativity as artists."

Kristy North Peigan says coming out to Banff to paint outdoors is a little like a retreat for her and she's enjoying the experience. She wants the young women in her family to be proud of her work.

"Me, as a representative of my nation, I really want to make it very clear with the very feminine intent behind some of these histories and stories," she said.

"Just due to the colonization and internalized misogyny unfortunately of history, I really want to ensure that I come in and bring that kind of feminine energy back into a lot of my work and a lot of the teachings that are passed to me."

Brendon Many Bears is a digital artist and is painting his first murals on massive four-sided boxes that will be displayed at the Cave and Basin. His theme is related to how tipi designs are made.

"In the Blackfoot culture, to get a design, you have to undergo one of three things," he said. "You have to have a dream, a vision or the design is transferred through your family so a family member gives you the design."

Many Bears says if it comes from a dream, that vision has to be taken to an elder and explained to them and the elder will transfer that into a tipi design. He says it's special to be painting in this location for thousands of international visitors to see.

"The Cave and Basin in general has a very historical significance to the Blackfoot people," he said.

"We would come here for ceremonies prior to the contact with the Europeans and settlers, it was one of our ceremonial sites where we would come and have ceremony and we shared that with the Stoney Nations as well, this area was designated as a neutral zone between the Stoneys and the Blackfoot so there's no negative energy here.”

Saunders Dahl says when the murals are completed on June 16, the mentors will help the artists describe their work to the public.

"We help them write their artist statements by the end of the week," she said.

"We try to pull like, what are those stories you're trying to tell, what do you want to make sure visitors know, because we'll put those statements on the boxes too and they'll be translated into their languages as well."