Art Portrait of a Chicago Hockey Player With a Cage Helmet
Ojibway artist Patrick Hunter, who is from Red Lake, Ont., and currently based in Toronto, designed the goalie mask for Marc-Andre Fleury of Chicago'south NHL team as part of Native American Heritage Calendar month in the United States.
Imagine seeing your art in mainstream places such equally the NHL. For artist and graphic designer Patrick Hunter, it'due south a reality — and it's happened to him twice. Hunter, an Ojibway artist from Red Lake who'southward currently based in Toronto, collaborated with Chicago earlier this year on the team'due south land acquittance, which is played at the start of every game. Now, Hunter has designed a hockey mask for goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who wore it in a recent game against Pittsburgh Penguins for Native American Heritage Month in the Usa. Hunter said he chose the design of Ojibway florals layered over a black base of operations top as a unifying image that represents the Ethnic cultures on the Great Lakes. The seven feathers at the tiptop represent the seven Gramps Teachings. Introducing 🌸'south Native American Heritage mask – brought to life with a design by Ojibwe artist Patrick Hunter <a href="https://t.co/JeX5XHf2hK">pic.twitter.com/JeX5XHf2hK</a> "My married woman'due south family unit is of Abenaki and Mi'kmaq descent, and I wanted to practice something special to recognize and gloat Native American Heritage Month," Fleury is quoted as saying in a blog post on Chicago's website. "I was lucky plenty to piece of work with Native artist Patrick Hunter on a special-edition mask, and I dear his design, peculiarly the inclusion of the flowers and feathers." Hunter start worked with the Chicago organization in Feb, when he designed the artwork for the land acquittance that plays before each dwelling house game. A few months later, the squad reached out again, requesting that he blueprint a mask for Fleury. "It'south kind of like a continuation of the land acquittance artwork," Hunter said. Sound Hunter said he accepted the first call "with a lot of trepidation" given that Chicago's logo isn't seen by many as a positive ane for Indigenous people. Still, after the call, Hunter saw "a lot of integrity," and he trusts the organization'due south plans to reconcile with the logo going forward. "I thought that was a cool opportunity to aid them with understanding that this is a long process, and they accept a lot of fans to endeavor and educate on Showtime Nations issues, and then also educating them on why it was wrong in the first identify," said Hunter. "That's the kind of path that they're on," he said. "If I could help them through starting conversations with artwork, I thought that would be a good fit." But Chicago has also been the bailiwick of a reckoning later an independent investigator found top squad officials ignored allegations of sexual assault by a one-time player against a erstwhile assistant bus. The NHL fined Chicago $two one thousand thousand US for "the organizations' inadequate internal procedures, and insufficient and untimely response" to the allegations Kyle Beach made to the team in 2010. It rocked the hockey world, and Hunter but learned about information technology through news reports similar everyone else. Hunter said he yet wants to continue working with the team considering information technology is actively trying to reconcile, and "you don't only go out people in the dark." The artist said it's still a surreal experience seeing his piece of work in both the land acknowledgment and on Fleury, but he stays humble about it. As for the future of some other collaboration with the NHL team, he's open up to information technology, as a way to bring even more Indigenous artwork into the mainstream.
'Conversations with artwork'
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/chicago-nhl-hockey-mask-1.6246080