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Todd Gronsdahl was studying on an island in British Columbia when he had the first inkling of his Saskatchewan Maritime Museum.

On Granville Island in Vancouver, at Emily Carr University, he constructed a ski jump out of wood — a nod to a piece of Saskatoon history.

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The ski jump at Devil’s Dip was built along the South Saskatchewan River in 1929; another plywood jump followed in 1936.

In Gronsdahl’s reinvention, it was a “ballistic missile defence system, a case of ‘hidden in plain sight.’”

Gronsdahl, who grew up near Clavet and now lives on a farm near Vonda, attributes his sculpture’s origins to a “need to claim my Saskatchewan-ness, maybe,” while surrounded by B.C. folks, water and ski hills.

At the same time, he created a mini museum reflecting Saskatchewan’s maritime history.

“There’s no maritime history documented, and so I just decided to make it up,” said Gronsdahl. “I’m going to make my own museum because there is none. And I’m going to make it where we make fun of power and these nation building exercises.”