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PHOTOS: Blessing ceremony for new art on new bridge in Newton

Phyllis Atkins created ‘We Are All Connected to This Land’ for Bear Creek Bridge
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Artist Phyllis Atkins with her work, We Are All Connected to This Land, on Bear Creek Bridge in Surrey. (submitted photo)

The unveiling of new artwork on a bridge in Newton involved a private blessing ceremony with members of Kwantlen First Nation on Tuesday (June 11).

Phyllis Atkins’ contemporary Coast Salish work, called We Are All Connected to This Land, is installed on Bear Creek Bridge, on King George Boulevard, just south of 88th Avenue.

The work, which features depictions of salmon, a sun, an eagle, a moon and a wolf, is cut from powder-coated red aluminum and attached to the concrete barrier walls of the new bridge.

The blessing ceremony was attended by Kwantlen First Nation Chief Marilyn Gabriel and elders, artist Atkins and her family, members of the Kwantlen nation, city councillors and staff, and representatives of Brenco Industries, the company that fabricated the artwork.

(SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MORE PHOTOS)

The project is part of a series of initiatives by the City of Surrey “to include visual representations of reconciliation on civic facilities and infrastructure,” according to a news release.

Atkins’s other public artworks in Surrey include Paddling through the Waves of Change and Returning to the River, with The Rivers That Connect Us to be installed outside the Museum of Surrey later this year. She has a website at springsalmonstudio.com and operates a studio in Fort Langley.

“From salmon to four-legged animals to winged creatures, I wanted to show how we are all connected to this land,” Atkins says of We Are All Connected to This Land, the design of which was recommended by a committee of Elders of the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations.

Established in 1998, Surrey’s Public Art Program “contributes to the creation of a lively, beautiful, inclusive, and complete community,” according to a post at surrey.ca/publicart.

• RELATED STORIES:

Surrey gets serious about public art (photos), from 2016.

New public art installed near White Rock pier.

Eight works of Indigenous art commissioned for Surrey sites.



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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