v. 23 – Steve Higgins

In the early years of Winnipeg, Ross Creek flowed across what is now Main Street at William Avenue, into the Red River at the foot of Sinclair Street, now Bannatyne Avenue. Before European colonization and throughout the early years of the fur trade, Ross Creek was a vital trade route for Indigenous nations. When the Winnipeg Transfer Railway was constructed in 1890, the creek was diverted and filled.

Laminar Flow is a sound installation by Halifax-based artist Steve Higgins, memorializing Ross Creek as an imaginary sequence of seasons and decades. This sonic tributary of the former waterway was originally unveiled in August 2004, and has been re-commissioned to coincide with the 23rd edition of send + receive in Stephen Juba Park.

Steve Higgins is an artist whose works include sculpture, drawing, and occasionally printmaking. He has exhibited for over forty years across Canada, in the United States, Brazil, Europe and Japan. In 2013 he was awarded the Nova Scotia Lt. Governor’s Master Work Prize for his sculpture installation Beyond the Terminating Vista (Rebuild) at Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery. He currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and teaches part-time at NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University).