Usk, WA (June 28, 2025) — On Tuesday, July 1, 2025, Kalispel Metal Products and City of Spokane District 3 Council Members will unveil a new cultural metal artwork display in the center of the Five-Mile roundabout located in the Five Mile Prairie neighborhood. Designed by Colville Tribal Member Louis Boyd, an apprentice working at the Kalispel Career Training Center (KCTC) in Cusick, WA, and fabricated with the assistance of several journeyman welders at KCTC, the display showcases a beautiful buck, doe, and fawn sculpture entitled In the Shape of Family. The unveiling ceremony will be held at the Five Mile Grange, 3024 West Strong Road at 11am. Speakers will include Council Members Zack Zappone and Kitty Klitzke and representatives from the Five Mile Prairie Neighborhood Council. Boyd and several Kalispel Tribe representatives will be in attendance as well.
Boyd describes the inspiration behind the metal sculptures. “They’re not just art,” says Boyd. “They represent spirit lines, the unique inner world of each one. Even though they belong to the same family, they’re not the same, and that’s something sacred.”
In many Native traditions, we know that family isn’t about matching. It’s about connection. It’s about knowing that each spirit walks its own path, even while staying close to the people they love.
The buck stands tall, a symbol of strength and the quiet responsibility that comes with guiding and protecting others. The doe carries herself with grace and gentle wisdom. She is watchful, nurturing, and deeply rooted in knowing. The fawn moves with curiosity, wide-eyed and full of possibility – still learning but already carrying the strength of those who came before. They are sculpted with the same metal, just as we are shaped from the same earth. And within them, the stories are different – just like us.
Boyd says, “This sculpture honors Indigenous families and offers something for everyone across mother earth who sees it: a reminder that we are not meant to match – we are meant to belong. That is what it means to be In the Shape of Family – where spirit, difference, and connection are honored as family.”