andy berg
sculpture & installation art               community engagement artist

Riel + Berg Art and Culture works as an Indigenous led artist team, (Team Leader, Georgina Riel, Team Member, Andy Berg) with municipalities, boards of education, public art galleries, arts organizations, etc, as a way to model the spirit and action of our commitment to the Two Row Wampum, through civic engagement, public art projects and healing, aka reconciliation for, with, and all who live on this Indigenous land. A major goal of our work is to decolonize and uplift public spaces in order to create a sense of welcome, safety, justice and wholeness for the original peoples living on this land that is now called Canada, but also to educate and engage settlers. Gdoo Naaginiga: Our Dish, is Riel + Berg's polychromatic ceramics on birch plywood Indigenous mural commissioned by and permanently installed at the Queen's University Psychology Department foyer, as our response to the subject of psychology, cultural resilience and strength in relation to Indigenous struggles in the land called Canada and also in the academy, using the lens of TRC Calls to Action. Public unveiling. Autumn of 2022. Our other projects: City of Kingston Waterfront Wayfinding Kiosks with Indigenous cultural, historical, natural science orientation, protocol and content. Riel + Berg Art and Culture was contracted by the City of Kingston Parks and Recreation to develop and facilitate Indigenous content about Lake Ontario. We did this using the lens of Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Calls to Action, a major focus of our work as an Indigenous and Non-Indigenous team. We feel it is important for First Peoples and Settler Cultures to come together to act with heart and commitment on the TRC. Riel is a treasure of traditional Anishinaabek knowledge and history, including cultural displacement, residential schools, sixties scoop treaty, protocol, oral wisdom and story arts, all our relations and the land. Berg's role is to listen deeply to First Peoples perspectives as offered by Riel (and other indigenous partners), as well as to research technical requirements, augment sculptural and spatial concepts/planning, assist development of artistic or design forms and processes, as well as engage in reflective inspiration and action within our partnership and beyond. Deep listening helps Berg to facilitate understanding and mutuality.  We were also shortlisted for the Nogojiwanong Commemorative Public Art Project in 2018 with the City of Peterborough.