one KWE owner designs and creates the National Lacrosse League Cup

By Rick Garrick

M’CHIGEENG FIRST NATION — one KWE owner Kathryn Corbiere recently designed and created the National Lacrosse League (NLL) Cup that was presented for the first time to the NLL champion Buffalo Bandits on May 18. Corbiere says she submitted a design for the trophy to the NLL last fall after an NLL representative reached out to her about a year ago.

“I looked back at the history of the game and when it came to be thousands of years ago, and it involved so many different players,” says Corbiere, an artist/metal fabricator and M’Chigeeng citizen who started up her business about 10 years ago. “It was played on a field that went kilometres and kilometres long, so the idea behind the trophy is that it starts in the handle of the trophy, you can’t see it super clearly but I engraved sort of a mesh design that represents the pockets of the traditional sticks they used.”

Corbiere says the mesh circles up and flares out into some wings.

“The wings represent the animals that used to take part in the Creators game when it first came into conception,” Corbiere says. “These wings also act as the handles of the trophy so when the players reach onto it they’re grabbing all the different wings and handles of the trophy. On top there is a big cup because they wanted to be able to celebrate with the trophy.”

Corbiere says the concept was approved this past December, and she began sourcing the materials in January.

“The end of February or March is when I actually started, I got the materials and we went from there,” Corbiere says. “The main portion of it actually weighed 230 pounds when I first got it. I worked with a local machinist on Manitoulin by the name of Pierre Masbou, and he has a lathe with the capabilities to turn down such a circumference of [stainless] steel of that size.”

Corbiere says they turned down the 230-pound piece of stainless steel into the cup, which weighed less than 20 pounds.

“Once that portion was done, I brought it back to my studio and I cut the wings of the trophy that fit the profile,” Corbiere says. “I had to weld all these wings into place and create a sturdy base and the plaque with their emblem on it. The final stage was engraving that mesh sort of feel on the handle of the trophy down the centre, and then [I] polished it.”

Corbiere says she presented the trophy to the NLL champions after watching the final game of the championship series.

“I was able to walk out with a police officer from the Seneca tribe and we presented the trophy,” Corbiere says. “Just to get to see them hoist it was kind of a surreal experience, creating something here in my community that is going to be travelling around the U.S. and Canada for their league.”

Corbiere says she began her business as a welder before venturing off into trying different things and doing artwork.

“For the past five years, I’ve been doing primarily sculptural work, public sculptures, and private commissions, and a mixture of both,” Corbiere says. “It is mostly large-scale pieces, a few pieces have been done for corporate clients, a few are for private, some of it is outdoors, some of it is indoors.”

Corbiere says one of the pieces she did was an interior piece for the Toronto Stock Exchange about two years ago.

“It was a representation of a harvested piece of birch bark,” Corbiere says. “Most of my inspiration comes from nature. I spend a lot of time outdoors and I just sort of gravitate towards nature and wilderness as a hunter and a fisher, and that’s just where a lot of my inspiration comes from. So to create a piece of birch bark, it held a lot of meaning.”

Corbiere says her career has migrated towards doing primarily artwork.

“It’s kind of just transitioned that way over time and I don’t know where it will go down the road but as of right now, I’m really open to exploring the art side of myself and the world and where it’s taking me and being able to make a living doing commissions and different public artwork,” Corbiere says.

Corbiere’s portfolio and contact information are posted on her website.