Team BC has added one more Prince George name to its Canada Winter Games roster.
Jennifer Annais Pighin is one of the city's best known residents, but not as an athlete, and it was not as an athlete that the provincial CWG squad drafted her. As a leading artist in northern B.C., she was tapped to design some of the components of the Team BC merchandise.
Three elements of Team BC's official apparel were given Pighin's creative touch. She adorned the front of their team long-sleeved Tshirts, she created the bright salmon images on the team scarf, and the team pin depicts a dugout canoe pilot. All are based on the culture of the Dakelh people from whom she is descended. Pighin is a member of and elected councillor for the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation - the official host First Nation of the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
These beautiful designs are going to be a huge hit at the upcoming Games, said Coralee Oakes, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. Congratulations to Jennifer Annais Pighin and Team BC for partnering on this exciting venture. What a great way to share the spirit of the north and the culture of the Lheidli Tenneh.
Pighin's artwork is commonly seen in the area. Perhaps her best-known work is the collaborative dugout canoe piece on permanent display in front of City Hall.
She painted Lheidli T'enneh clan images on the windows of Tourism Prince George.
Her art was used on some of the wraps around the pillars of the newly renovated Canada Games Plaza in front of the Civic Centre.
She was on the construction team that built the Dakelh pithouse on the UNBC campus this past summer.
She was one of the artists involved in this year's art battle at Groop Gallery and was featured in the acclaimed artistic body-painting calendar that raised funds for the Community Arts Council and Prince George Library.
Pighin said this latest opportunity was exciting for her because whenever she sees these clothing items around the city during the Games, she will feel the rush of having so many people seeing her work at such a prestigious event but she will also know the wearer is an athlete, coach or some other direct participant in the B.C. sports delegation. These items might be traded inter-provincially among athletes, coaches, etc. but they will not be for sale to the general public.
It has been an honour to work with Jennifer on the creation of these designs, said Rob Needham, Team BC Chef de Mission. The Team BC athletes, coaches, and mission staff will wear the pieces with pride and are excited to debut them in Prince George.
"We had a lot of back-and-forth communication to come up with these final designs," Pighin said. "We talked at first about telling a story with the images but it was too difficult to do that with so few images, so we turned next to ideas about representative images of the region's First Nations history. They kept their thoughts pretty general so they didn't get in the way of the creative process they wanted from me, but they had some ideas about general concepts, and there was a lot of change in the designs from beginning to the final choices."
She was particularly happy to have the salmon image on the scarves turn out so prominently.
"I saw a correlation between the salmon's amazing journey from its life in the ocean up the river to Prince George. They are different fish when they arrive here - they are a different colour, they are leaner - and we celebrate that. We also celebrate the athletes who have worked so hard to get the chance to come to Prince George and compete in these Games," she said.
