The Jasper Artist Guild’s (JAG) many artists recently teamed up to create a unique piece of art to celebrate the new Two Brothers Totem Pole. 

The result was nine different artists’ interpretation of the new Jasper icon that was displayed horizontally at JAG’s Brushfire Gallery for the weeks surrounding the raising of the new totem. 

Ron Brown, a JAG member and photographer, came up with the idea to build the piece of art, and sent out a challenge to JAG members. The result was nine different artists submitting their pieces within a week. Those artists are: Greg Deagle, Claude Boocock, Wendy Tassone, Alan Butler, Pamela Cinnamon, Norene Carr, Paul Alex Bennett, Jessy Dion and Di Ward. Each artist got their own piece, and besides being given a sketch of a part of the totem, the artists had free creative license to do whatever they wanted. 

The result was a truly unique piece that stretches across almost the entire length of the Brushfire Gallery. 

“Everybody interpreted their piece differently,” Brown said. “I didn’t tell them what to do.”

Brown had hoped each piece would be drastically different from the one before it. What was produced was cohesive, yet different from piece to piece. He said the complete totem art is a great representation of Jasper.

“These are our artistic members of our community,” Brown said. 

The artists used a variety of mediums. Tassone used fabric art, while others went with watercolour, acrylic and more. 

The totem has been taken down from the walls of the gallery, but Brown is searching for a new, permanent home for it. The response to visitors and locals alike was outstanding, and many questions were raised about the origin of the piece. The carvers themselves, Gwaai and Jaalen Edenshaw, not only allowed the piece to be completed, but stopped by the gallery to check it out. According to Brown, they were impressed by what the Jasper artists created. 

The installation of the totem was a task in itself. The piece had to be carefully hung, and then a frame and glass covering was constructed around it. 

While the pieces may not seem to fit together right away, Brown says with a little concentration, they come together beautifully.

“I think with all art you have to work at seeing it,” he said. 

Brown said that what he enjoyed about the totem is the co-operation between the Aboriginal groups and Parks Canada – and JAG merely took their lead and did the same thing.

“Parks came together and proposed the project, the Aboriginal groups all came together to make it work,” Brown said of the Two Brothers Totem. “I suggested to the artists at JAG that we come together to create something from this important event.”

The new artwork is now looking for a home. Brown is hoping that the spirit of coming together can once again happen, so that JAG can partner with someone to see the totem art displayed in the public permanently.