In anticipation of TRU’s spring convocation, slated for June 3 to 5, Tk’emlúps artist Ed Jensen has completed another project for the university. This one, a ceremonial mace featuring a jade coyote mounted on a juniper staff, tells a story of the resilience and enduring legacy of the Secwépemc people.
The staff will debut at this year’s convocation and will become an important part of future TRU convocations.
Ed Jensen is a self-taught artisan from Kamloops who grew up immersed in the traditional knowledge and histories of the Secwépemc people. With the legacy of residential schools ever-present, Jensen and his generation of artists emerged as seminal voices in the cultural resurgence of the Secwépemc people.
Jensen creates his art pieces with tools and implements which were used for centuries by people in the Kamloops area, ranging from anything from hunting weapons to drums and clothing. These instruments are not only important historical and cultural artefacts but also testaments to survival and perseverance.
It took four months for Jensen to complete the coyote mace, which was created with materials sourced from around British Columbia. The polished jade for the coyote came from Cassiar, and the carved juniper staff came from Tk’emlúps.
Coyotes are important characters in traditional Secwépemc stories, playing the role of the trickster in many tales. Their presence has been felt in the storytelling traditions over generations, and it was only natural that Jensen incorporated the canine into the piece.
Aside from the cultural significance the staff represents as a whole, its individual components hold their own relevance, such as the juniper wood, a material that has, for hundreds of years, been an essential component of both tools and medicine in many Indigenous cultures. The staff also features carved depictions of Secwépemc stories that, as knowledge-keeper, Jensen sees as legacies designed to live on long after him.
Robert McAlaster/The Omega
“Long after I’m gone, people are going to be able to look at this piece and know that it was homegrown, grassroots Secwépemc person that did this project,” Jensen told TRU. “Somebody who knew the stories, somebody that was aware of the culture.”
Becoming a part of future TRU convocations means that these stories and artworks will become embedded in the university’s history, and each student leaving TRU will do so with an awareness and acknowledgement of the Secwépemc people whose lands they stand on.
Jensen has created other projects for TRU in the past, one of which was a pair of pétse (traditional digging sticks) for the ground-breaking ceremony of TRU’s much anticipated Indigenous Education Centre. Currently Jensen is hard at work on a cedar wood relief panel for the Chappell Family Building for Nursing and Population Health.