About the Artwork
Great Grandmother Tree and Spiral to the Sky are two temporary public art installations located along New Westminster's Riverfront Esplanade. This project is led by Nlaka’pamux curator Nadine Spence along with xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) advisor Mary Point, and supported by the Sacred Rock Community Society.
The installations will remain in place through National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30), offering space for reflection. Opportunities to meet the curator will be available during River Fest (September 27–28) and the Culture Crawl (October 4–5). Participating through an Indigenous earth-friendly trade activity will be possible during the Cultural Crawl weekend.
At the heart of these projects is a call for community participation (Oct 4 & 5, 2025). Visitors are invited to bring small, natural, plant-based offerings from the land to contribute to the growing creation of Spiral to the Sky. This earth-friendly exchange is central to the artwork, honouring Indigenous teachings of reciprocity and connection with the land.
Together, these works temporarily transform the World’s Largest Tin Soldier and the Simon Fraser bust. While rooted in the sharing of offerings, they also invite reflection on the impacts of colonialism on Interior Salish and Coast Salish peoples — particularly in relation to the river, trees, plants, and basket-making traditions. The projects honour the deep ties of the upriver Nlaka’pamux peoples and the downriver Coast Salish communities — including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) families — to the lands and waters of their territories.
Educational and participatory activities will take place outdoors, rain or shine. All are welcome.
Artist Statement
The Grandmother Tree and Spiral to the Sky are influenced by the Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey movement and its Nlakapamux and Secwepemc origins.
This installation is inspired by powerful experiences felt during a cottonwood tree falling ceremony in Xaxli’p. They were felt again at a historic cultural gathering place in Nlaka’pamux at Twaal Valley above Spences Bridge where a large ponderosa pine stands tall called the dancing tree. The importance of these trees and their lives to the natural environment and indigenous peoples of the territory they exist in is irreplaceable.
At one time in this very place stood old growth forests, flowing clean aqua river waters, tonnes of native plants, fish and wildlife. Today we see cement, metal and glass buildings, highways, railways, bridges, boats and industry. The great pain and sorrow the Indigenous peoples and the lands went through at the time of colonial contact, during the mass logging and dredging of the Fraser river must have been overwhelming.
Indigenous peoples had an understanding and a relationship with the natural world and its powers, they communicated, made offerings and gave thanks to the environment to live, so nothing was ever taken in a bad way. This is why the trees, plants, waters and all living things remained abundant, healthy and pristine.
I imagine they did every ceremony to repair the damages done by the colonizers to the environment during this time. The colonizers more than likely never did ceremonies or made offerings, they took, sold, cut down and dirtied the lands, which still happens to this day.
Time immemorial of Indigenous peoples with the natural world was broken and forgotten, replaced by colonial human figures, such as the World's Largest Tin Soldier and the Simon Fraser Bust. These short lived colonial monuments still stand and remain as a reminder of the human disconnect to the natural world. We cannot turn back time or change the genocide of Indigenous peoples with the natural environment. But together we can transform these colonial human figures into a Nlaka’pamux Ponderosa Pine Tree and Spiral to the Sky.
Gifts placed around The Grandmother Tree will be moved as offerings to Spiral to the Sky around the Simon Fraser Bust. These offerings are being given to the natural world for the life and gifts it provides for us all. Together we will remember a time in all our ancestry that our bond with mother earth was strong, when our entire being and instinct was nothing less than deep gratefulness, respect and a responsibility to honour that connection to her in all we do.
Nadine Spence, 2025-09-24
About the Artist
Nadine Spence is a Nlaka’pamux and Secwepemc mother, grandmother and artist. Her hometown is Spences Bridge, BC and now resides in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Nadine graduated from the University of Fraser Valley with Honours and went on to receive a certificate and diploma in fashion design. Nadine’s fashion incorporated Indigenous design elements in an environmentally conscious manner, utilizing natural fabrics, dyes, and recycled materials.
Nadine became an entrepreneur producing arts and culture events, fashion shows, and workshops. Her work became a platform to advocate for Indigenous and Canadian social issues, youth at risk, MMIWG2S+, and environmental protection, which remain at the forefront of her work to this day.
In the last 10 years, Nadine has returned to her roots through in-depth storytelling, visual artwork, and writing. Her art started to resurface strongly through pencil sketches, acrylic painting, photography, and soapstone carving. Nadine’s artwork is full of bold and bright contrasting colours with earth tones reflective of the lands of her Nlaka’pamux nation. Her vision includes finding growth and hope through the arts that involve the spirit, mind, body, and heart, in direct relation to the natural world and its spirituality.
Nadine, along with other artists, developed Further We Rise, an Indigenous art collective. She is connected to the DTES of Vancouver through her grandmothers who she never knew, as both lived and died there. Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey was inspired by her relationships with her grandmothers. Nadine is the lead visionary artist, curator of this journey, which is supported by Further We Rise, and Sacred Rock.
Special Thanks to:
City of New Westminster Electrical Department
City of New Westminster Carpentry Services, Engineering Operations - Parks Maintenance
New Westminster Museum and Archives
