The Indigenous Christian Fellowship in Regina has commissioned several sets of art. An important principle for the ministry was encouraging Indigenous Christians to respond to the Creator’s gift of Jesus Christ with their unique cultural gifts. This art helped serve as a conversation starter.
Among North American indigenous peoples, there is the story that, before Europeans arrived on Turtle Island, elders had visions about white people coming from the east with a story from the Creator. In 2002, Indigenous Christian Fellowship (ICF) commissioned Cree artist Ovide Bighetty to depict the vision that an elder had of Kisemanito Pakitinasuwin - The Creator’s Sacrifice; (the Easter story or the passion of Jesus Christ). Ovide accepted the challenge to paint the story in a fashion consistent with both the accounts in the gospels and aboriginal culture. Ovide painted the elder’s vision of the Easter story in his own aboriginal style which he describes as ‘Woodland Cree’.
A traditional teaching of Aboriginal people in Canada is that before Europeans reached the eastern shores of Turtle Island, their elders had visions of people coming from the east with messages from the Creator. Inspired by that tradition, Indigenous Christian Fellowship commissioned Ovide Bighetty to create series of paintings depicting the visions of those Aboriginal elders.
In preparation for painting Kisê-manitow Omiyikowiswin – The Creator’s Gift, Bert Adema (ICF Director) researched the sequence of the Christmas story from the accounts in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. From the sequence of the gospel accounts, Ovide selected seventeen vignettes for his visual portrayal of the Creator’s Gift.
A traditional teaching amongst the First Nations of Turtle Island is that before Europeans crossed the ocean, their elders had visions of people coming from the east with messages from the Creator. This tradition inspired Bert Adema, Director of Indigenous Christian Fellowship (ICF) to commission Ovide Bighetty to create four unique series of paintings. Ovide Bighetty is a Cree (Missinippi-Ethiniwak) self-taught artist originally from Pukatawagan First Nation on the Missinippi River in north western Manitoba. A significant challenge was to depict the teachings in a way consistent with both Aboriginal symbolism and the Biblical sources. For each commission, Ovide consulted with elders from Pukatawagan and in the urban communities of Regina and Winnipeg where he painted the commissions.
Enthusiastic response to an earlier commission, ‘Kisê-manitow Opakitinâsowin - The Creator’s Sacrifice’, encouraged the Council of Indigenous Christian Fellowship to commission Ovide Bighetty a second time. It was decided to challenge Ovide to create images to accompany the teachings known, at the ministry, as ‘Steps Along The Red Road Following Christ the Creator’. These teachings were reproduced in a plain brochure and made available to people who visited the ministry. The need to make additional replacement copies of the brochures on a regular basis indicated the value of the teachings to the ministry’s Aboriginal clientele.
