DULUTH, Minn. — Today, kids from the Red Cliff community helped paint the Chief Buffalo Mural Project at Gitchi-Ode’ Akiing Park.
The project features a maze of murals near the Lakewalk, hand-crafted by artists and local community members. Each wall tells the story of Chief Buffalo, while also highlighting the Indigenous community in a contemporary light.
Lead coordinator of the project, Moira Villiard, said that “the whole goal of the project is to sort of like normalize telling history through art. We’ve got a lot different time frames of Indigenous history represented throughout this space as well as the story of Chief Buffalo.”
Chief Buffalo played a part in implementing the treaty of 1854, which helped create multiple reservations and assured hunting and fishing tribal rights in the Lake Superior region.
Villiard went on to say, “I imagine in the future it would be cool if school groups came through here and we’ll get a sign out that actually talks about what this space is. So people will know it’s not just art here, there’s a whole story weaving this together.”
The mural project is sponsored by the Duluth Indigenous Commission and Zeitgeist Center for the Arts.
The initial finish date for the mural was summer of 2020, but was rescheduled due to Covid-19. Project coordinators say that they now plan to have the mural done by next month.
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