Stoney Nakoda Knowledge Keeper Duane Mark uses creative techniques to preserve the Stoney culture.

There are many ways to tell a story. Some of us share it through music, some through words. Others use tactile methods to express an idea or a concept.

“Learning is easier through tactile exercise,” says knowledge keeper Duane Mark, who is also the Stoney language teacher at Mînî Thnî Community School.

“When I started sharing stories with my students, I noticed it was difficult for them to retain the information,” he says. “I wanted to find a way to help them engage with the language.”

Once Duane introduced the use of tactile exercise, such as portraying the story through molding of plasticine, he saw a big change. “I noticed that the students showed much more interest in the story while tasked with shaping figures out of plasticine to represent what they had heard; they really engaged with the characters and remembered the story afterwards.”

Now, he says, his students spend hours perfecting their creations, enjoying the process of forming the characters and trying to present the story in the most accurate and creative way they know how to. “I always love seeing their creativity; everyone’s designs are so different and interesting,” says Duane.

“It’s important that these stories are passed on to the next generation.”

In his classes, students often experience working with tactile mediums for the very first time. This was also the case for community members who recently had the chance to attend a class led by Duane along with ceramics educator Jenn Poirier at artsPlace.

The class was hosted as part of a series of community building gatherings that invited diverse local groups to learn and connect through working with clay. For most of the participants during the first session, it was the first experience of using the medium.

The group consisted of folks invited by the Canmore Young Adult Network and BanffLIFE, who had the opportunity to try their hand at a new arts practice while learning about the traditional use of clay in the Stoney culture.

Before he told his first story, with some excerpts in Îyârhe (Stoney) language, Duane took a moment to acknowledge why it is essential to protect his primarily oral culture in the context of colonization. It is through sharing these traditional stories that the Stoney heritage can be preserved, Duane believes.

Sharing stories, through various means, has always been part of human connection; a way to build bridges between cultures.

As Duane told the classroom the story of Creation, and another one about a trickster character prevalent in Stoney teachings, participants used their imagination to mold the clay into scenes representative of what they heard.

At the end, Duane asked them “So, looking at the scenes you built out of clay here, do you remember the characters I told you about? Do you know what they represent?

Could you retell the story?” 

Students nodded that yes, indeed they could. And so the story lives on, in all of them.