October 28, 2011 –
MAYETTA: A ceremony was held this morning to celebrate the permanent installment of the Community Story Tree mosaic of art in the lobby of the Government Center. Tribal Council, artists, and members of the community were on hand for the event.
The project, organized by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s (PBPN) Tribal Victims Assistance Program, took several months to complete and was designed to raise awareness about domestic violence. The artwork was first unveiled on Oct. 7 in Topeka and then traveled to tribal locations in northeast Kansas before coming back to the PBPN.
A companion book that describes the artwork grid now accompanies the display. In the book each tile is coded to identify who the artist is and also offers his/her reflections of how violence has affected them. A total of 72 tiles make up the mosaic and were created by members of the PBPN community.
The project was sponsored by the Potawatomi Tribal Police Department-TVAP, and support of the Family Violence Prevention Program and Native Women’s Advocacy Committee.
The artwork is located on the east wall in the lobby of the Government Center.
Some of the artists that were involved in the project and were at the ceremony this morning.
Kent Miller and Rebekah Jones headed the project and are on the staff of the Tribal Victims Assistance Program.
Tribal Council with Tribal Police-TVAP. Left to right: Jim Potter, Mike Boswell, Kent Miller, Rebekah Jones, Carrie O’Toole, Steve Ortiz, and Junior Wahweotten. Boswell, Miller and Jones are with the Tribal Police and others in the photo are on the Tribal Council.
Every tile has a story of its own. The Government Center (16281 Q Rd) lobby is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.