When I read about the latest addition to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden I knew it was time for a visit. It made me think of a walking labyrinth for spiritual centering, contemplation, and prayer as you walk slowly and quiet your mind.
This newest work by Angela Two Stars is Okciyapi, commissioned by Walker Center as a healing work. It celebrates the native culture and language of the Dakota.
The Walker Art Center/Minneapolis Sculpture Garden site describes it like this…
“A gathering place and welcoming site of reflection, Okciyapi (Help Each Other) makes poetic connections between land, water, language, and people. Twin Cities–based artist Angela Two Stars (Dakota, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) is known for artworks in public space that invite participation. Her work focuses on Indigenous language revitalization, a process she describes as a healing medicine that strengthens Dakota culture and identity. The sculpture Okciyapi (pronounced “oak-chee-YAH-pea”) was inspired by the legacies of her grandfather and treasured elders working in language revitalization efforts.
The rings of seating elements are based on patterns of rippling water and symbolize relationships between individuals and communities. Just as a drop of water creates ripples that flow across a lake, one speaker’s shared knowledge can spread to future generations.
Parts of the work bring forward aspects of the environment and the land’s history. Plantings of flowers and grasses native to the region draw our attention the natural world in this urban setting. In the sculpture’s center, a water dome mirrors the sky, a reference to the name Minnesota—or Mni Sota Makoce in Dakota—which means “land where the waters reflect the clouds.
Throughout the work, Two Stars offers ways for us to encounter and experience the Dakota language both as written and spoken words. Some are engraved into the benches, expressing Native values and offering encouragement: woksapé (wisdom), wóohoda (respect), and wóohitika (bravery). In a set of audio recordings, Dakota speakers share stories or remembrances and the artist reads the words featured the sculpture. These recordings can be accessed here.”
Okciyapi provides a welcoming gathering site when you enter the sculpture garden on the west side. I also love entering the park from the east side, walking the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge designed by Siah Armajani. I love how the bridge goes over busy freeways, reminding us we are at a busy intersection of life, poetry, language and art. If you look up as you cross you can read a poem by John Ashbery,
The path leading to Walker Art Center is also lined with benches, engraved with Jenny Holzer texts.
I find it fascinating how language plays a key role at each of the three main entrances to the Sculpture Garden, and now the language of the Dakota is included, honoring the heritage of Indigenous peoples on whose ground the city is founded. Angela Two Stars views language as crucial to the healing process: “Language is like a drop of water, a ripple across an entire pond.”
If you visit, spend time discovering the many sculptures found throughout the park… it is free and open to the public 365 days a year from 6 am to 12 midnight.
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com
