Indigenous artist creates First Nation-inspired Wabamun School basketball jersey

Friday, February 23, 2024 – A new basketball jersey is now hitting the basketball court at Wabamun School after a collaborative effort with a parent.

Henry Bird, a parent and artist, was approached by the school and asked to create an Indigenous-inspired school logo as a variant to the Wabamun Wild logo. Bird took the challenge and created an incredible design featuring his take on the animal logo of the school.

“It is all over the community chats and there are a lot of likes on them (the photos),” Bird said.

The design shows an indistinct animal moving upwards and puts an Indigenous-style on the Wabamun Wild logo. The logo shows a dragonfly-eye, which is a symbol of the community, waves on the cheek and a wild animal that is an amalgamation of animals in the area.

The jersey, which is light and dark blue, with grey pawprints and white numbers, also features Syllabic writing on the back that says “Wabamun” in Cree.

Les Worthington, principal of Wabamun School, said the new design is captivating and residents love it.

“We’re in the process of selling hoodies and T-shirts with the logo on it, sweaters and we’ve even had people ask if they can buy a basketball jersey,” Worthington said. “They see the spirit of the community in it. They see our traditional logo, they see Henry’s vision of what he sees the logo as and combined with the Syllabic, it is just really a beautiful piece of art.”

Worthington hopes the design helps open the conversation up about the community’s Indigenous history.

For more information, contact:

Parkland School Division
Phone: 780-963-4010
Email: divisionoffice@psd.ca