The Environmental Education Centre in Okotoks is currently home to a collaborative art piece.

It's a 12-foot tall sculpture representing the past and future of Alberta energy.

The piece was built in 2019 for Alberta EcoTrust's Annual Environmental Gathering.

Patrick Duke, a student of the University of Calgary at the time, was approached by a member of Alberta EcoTrust and asked to come up with something for the show.

He enlisted the help of a few student groups he'd worked with in the past.

"It made its way through the Boys and Girls Club of Airdrie, St. Vincent de Paul junior high in Calgary, St. Ambrose junior high in Calgary, and then the main focus of the whole thing is this Indigenous headdress component that Siksika Nation high school jumped on board and contributed to."

The piece represents Alberta energy in a few different ways.

Its base is shaped like an oil derrick, with a few separate paintings toward the top, showing off cityscapes, wind turbines, and other Alberta imagery.

Atop the derrick is the aforementioned headdress.

art headpieceThe striking headdress piece utilizes a few different mediums.

Duke says he gave the class from the Siksika Nation high school a fair bit of leeway, having already seen what they can do.

"I had a relationship with the school before doing some outreach there, and I said 'I trust you guys, I love what you've already done, this art class is so talented,' and I told them to go nuts. There's a couple of different materials they used. There's this twine along that bottom, sort of grounding it, then there's this copper foil they've been able to carve into and place a background on to really get something popping on the piece. On that, there's a traditional energy system of the buffalo represented, and there's also a teepee on the other side."

Above that is a wind turbine made from plastic which was donated by a company that builds hockey rinks.

The piece has been hosted at a few different venues, including the Calgary Central Library.

It will remain at the Environmental Education Centre until April of 2023.

The building is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.