Author(s): Michael Everts
The reintroduction of North American Plains bison to the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribal lands in eastern Montana initiated a process of ecological benefit and the opportunity for underserved communities to increase their capacity to improve the health of their lands, people, and culture. The return is a bison homecoming after an absence of 150 years. This work sparked community interest in ensuring that this return enhanced the community鈥檚 health and welfare. Surveys of 3,000 community households done by the Pte Group and the World Wildlife Fund in 2014 indicate a desire for greater access to herds.1 It is, therefore, critical to identify models of design that can create enhanced experiences with bison. Over the last six years, architecture students worked with the tribes to iterate on design approaches and create spaces that could fulfill the tribes鈥 aspirations. CNC technologies and crowd-sourcing strategies have brought a wide range of community members to become 鈥渕akers鈥 of cultural material, broadening and deepening the connection to the effort. The process and eventual land installation designs that emerged initiated a trusted word-of-mouth network, multiplying future impact.The Buffalo Connections trail, (Pt茅 Bah谩 Oc膮虂gu [Nakoda – Buffalo Hills] Wam谩kha?ka艐?ka艐 [Dakota – All that move on the land],2 which weaves through the ancestral plains dedi- cated to the bison, was conceived to host interactive cultural installations. The concept for the design of the Story Poles鈥 derivations of native 鈥榯alking sticks鈥欌攅merged through an iterative community engagement process. The first installation is the 鈥淲oven Willow鈥 (C膮使贸gatija in Nakoda, Co葻wa艐?i膷a in Dakota)3 pole, designed for bison to rub against, structurally pliant under the enormous force, capturing buffalo fur for collecting as a material for art and ceremonial uses. It fosters community connection in that all the pieces of the pole are CNC鈥檇 with artwork provided by students from all the reservation鈥檚 high schools.The second installation, an artistic 鈥淰ision Tower鈥 (Od懦使w膮铆pa in Nakoda, Wowa艐ya艐ke in Dakota),4 allows the observational and performative experience of the returned native bison in their prairie landscape. Children can climb the tower and tell the story of what they see to the adults on the ground. Moreover, the Ash tree structure is CNC carved with the hand- prints of nearly 100 Indigenous community members.Traditional approaches to cultural artifact creation often rely on individual artists for paintings, sculptures, and other object- oriented pieces. The design model for the land installations multiplies aspects of cultural and artistic production by using technology to increase the number of makers and the depth of ownership, extending the impact of the bison鈥檚 return.
Volume Editors
ISBN
978-1-944214-49-4