Artists, Crystal Przybille and Sheldon Louis (Syilx), were invited by CTQ Consulting to help conceptualize and design an artistic entry monument for the City of Kelowna on Highway 97. Their concept was selected through a blind review competition among eight design firms held by the City of Kelowna.
Following a collaborative process of discussion and concept development, Przybille designed the monument’s abstract sculptural form. From a distance, its individual banded segments appear to form a single, monolithic structure. As viewers pass the monument, the form visually divides into its separate segments through parallax, revealing a more complex composition.
The overall form evokes strands within a weaving, representing the strength that emerges when individuals and different elements come together to form a community.
Each segment consists of two curving bands bearing iconography cut from weathering steel. Louis and Przybille each designed the iconography for one band within every segment, bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives into relationship throughout the monument.
The five segments move through a sequence of themes: the first represents the land; the second, water; the third, heritage; the fourth, community; and the final segment, the municipality of Kelowna.
The monument was fabricated by Knight Signs and installed in the autumn of 2026. Learn more about the vision for this gateway project in this video.