Image
Image Caption
Alex Janvier tile mosaic revealed a Rogers Place on September 8, 2016.
Janvier artwork to adorn new downtown arena
Acclaimed Aboriginal artist Alex Janvier has been selected to create a colourful floor mosaic for Edmonton’s new downtown arena. The $700,000 piece is the largest public art work yet commissioned in the city. The circular tile mosaic will be inset in the floor of the Rogers Place Winter Garden entrance and pedway spanning 104th Avenue. Janvier, of Cold Lake First Nation, was selected from a pre-qualified list of Canadian and international artists. Janvier said he came up with the design — inspired by the sun, sky, hills and rivers — in a day, but did about eight drafts, some of which were too complicated to be replicated in tile pieces. It will take a year to fabricate the pieces for Janvier’s work and six weeks to install it. “This new gathering place will showcase some of the best we, as First Nations, have to offer and it will show the world that while we are modern and progressive, we also remember and honour our past,” said Treaty 6 Grand Chief Bernice Martial, who is also Chief of Cold Lake First Nation.