Last year, he collaborated with his cousin Cyler Sparrow-Point on the logo, incorporating the orca logo with the maroon, teal, black, white and gold design.
Sparrow-Crawford's work fuses Coast Salish artistic elements with contemporary styles, drawing on lessons from his culture while paying homage to its history. This year’s design is inspired by his family’s role in preserving traditional weaving in the Musqueam community.
His family was instrumental in revitalizing the practice, learning from ancestral pieces that had been hidden when many of their belongings were taken away. His great-grandfather's baby blanket was secretly stowed away, and when it was finally safe to retrieve, his mother and three of her sisters studied the design, worked it backwards, and revitalized the traditional weaving.
“My aunt Deborah Sparrow, who is one of the weavers that helped to revitalize Salish weaving in our communities, has been instrumental to my design career and has taught me on the loom itself,” Sparrow-Crawford said.
“Today, the tradition is thriving, and we have a plethora of weavers in the Coast Salish community, I like to pay respect to that history. I've had the privilege of weaving with my aunt and this design references one of hers.”
The First Nations Celebration logo retains the classic black, yellow, and red of the Canucks’ skate logo, which are colours that hold a deep meaning to the Coast Salish people.
“The colours are from the logo that every fan remembers and tie back to our traditional dyes that we would use in tradition to create these weavings and the material itself. The skate was a template to displaying a whole weaving – which were significant in tradition, and were also everyday clothing for our people,” he said.
The logo’s shape reminded him of a spindle whorl, a tool used to spin wool, reinforcing connection between Coast Salish weaving and the Canucks’ community. Each line in the skate represents a different weaving pattern, with a mountain motif encircling the design to honour the coastal mountains.
“The meaning of the designs themselves are definitely significant, and looking at the connection of these two traditions icons within our cultures [Vancouver Canucks and Coast Salish people] is really the connection,” he said.
Sparrow-Crawford loves getting together and celebrating with the community. He says a lot of the Coast Salish history can be painful, but moments like these that celebrate the beauty of their history and culture with the greater community is meaningful.
“It's really powerful to see Coast Salish design out in the world being represented by people of all colours, shapes, and sizes. It’s the history that our people have fought for – representation and advocacy within every community is happening through these mediums,” he said.
For Sparrow-Crawford, weaving his culture into the present and future is what drives his work. Being part of history in a positive way is what he aspires to do with his art.
