“Paskwâw (prairie or plains in Cree) is inspired by Linus Woods’s work. I love his use of colour and little squares. I used stencils for the tipi and the bison. I added texture with gesso. I wanted to show what the land was like a long time ago on the prairies here in Alberta. It is the Rocky Mountains in the background. Now Indigenous plains peoples live in houses. The bison are few. The tipi and the bison are still very important to Indigenous culture today. Nimosom (my grandfather in Cree) taught me the Cree word for prairie for my title of my painting.”

— Maxwell Stone (Grade 2, Argyll Learning Centre, Edmonton, Alberta)

Linus Woods (b.1967) is a contemporary Dakota / Ojibway artist from the Long Plain First Nation in Southern Manitoba, and creates expressive works that often incorporate colourful schemes, geometric patterns, and collage.