Edmonton River Designs
We design and release images that capture a dimension of Edmonton's multifaceted identity.
These include the 2025 Face of Edmonton which features the Magpie, and the 2024 Face of Edmonton, “Beaver in Bough”.
These images were inspired and refined by discussions with local Elders and Knowledge Keepers.
The magpie mates for life and is known as a healer, its black and white colours mirroring the duality of nature. It is depicted with its wings outstretched as it turns to the sun, rendering its plummage iridescent.
The “e” also outlines a beaver. We encircled it with a red willow bough, which is used to form Sweat Lodges. The seven leaves reflect the Sacred Teachings of Indigenous Peoples: Love, Respect, Honesty, Wisdom, Courage, Humility, and Truth.
A beaver's backbone is formed of the syllabics ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᕀᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, which is Cree for Beaver Hills House. This is the traditional name for this area, and leads to the ear, eye, nostrils and incisors on the top right. The four sets of three dots represent claws extending from the limbs, which are positioned on an arch representing a beaver hill.
The North Saskatchewan River transects the “e” and formed a verdant valley as the glaciers receded. This gave Indigenous Peoples an ancestral route for millennia and remains a gathering place for Edmontonians and visitors.
The word Edmonton is written on the beaver tail and curls under the body with the first leaf bridging the two worlds.
As perceived by Lewis Cardinal, the "Open E" is also an incomplete circle that invites others to be a "part of it", as in the teaching "There's always room for you in the circle" or "You're welcome here, there's room".
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The images here are available to be used freely via a Creative Commons License.
