Gordon Peters Logging Ltd. is the major logging contractor for West Fraser Sawmills and has been managed for the past 57 years by owner Gordon Peters, an acknowledged industry leader and mentor. Still an active manager at 86 years of age, he has the grit and drive to thrive in this tough industry.
Over the years, the company has grown from one man with one dozer to a full-scale logging operation with 24 pieces of equipment and 30+ employees. It continuously pursues its goals to deliver safe, quality logging services, long term employment to local individuals and expertise in the development of sustainable logging practices.
Anita Sikma grew up the daughter of an automotive technician and it is this experience that informs both her design aesthetic and love of handcrafted labour. Her most recent collection is named after her father’s automotive shop in Saskatchewan and features jewellery inspired by muffler clamps, cold connectors and sprockets. With her intuitive understanding of mechanical design, Anita has developed her collections using the traditional process of ‘lost wax casting’, blending contemporary elegance with Art Deco influence to create her androgynous classics. Starting in her East Vancouver apartment and growing into an independent studio space, Anita’s use of raw materials and hand tools supports a shrinking handful of local, family-run businesses. Her work has been featured widely in numerous publications and has a strong following of jewellery lovers and dedicated collectors.
Brad Turner creates sculptural and functional glass objects with a strong focus on conceptual originality, superb craftsmanship, and cohesive intent. He maintains a diverse practice that weaves in-and-out of craft, art and design. While his work displays the care and technical expertise expected of top artisans, it is imbued with a unique design sense. As an object maker, Brad strives to create well-made, thoughtful objects that add relevant content to creative culture. He has steadily garnered recognition for his work, receiving 24 industry awards over the years, and readily pursues artistic development over stability. Brad has quickly become a positive influence within the Vancouver glass scene and is considered a talented and committed artist, designer and craftsperson who contributes his wealth of knowledge to the community.
To pursue a career anchored in creativity and design, Steven Pollock dropped his briefcase 15 years ago and picked up an unconventional material: concrete. Using self-taught techniques, Steven finishes the cast concrete and incorporates other materials to create minimalist pieces, which leave very little room for forgiveness; each piece must be perfect and no detail goes unnoticed. Mirroring the environment around him and drawing on the relationship between humanity and its interaction with nature, Steven’s work utilizes BC’s homegrown materials and is often inspired by local architecture. In his own words, “Working with concrete is a commitment. It’s a material that retains the ugly and the beautiful.” Steven’s award-winning bold and distinctive designs are easily recognizable and make a unique contribution to BC’s cultural and creative economy.
Corey Bulpitt is an artist from the Haida Na7ikun-Raven Clan and holds the name T’aak’eit G’aayaa, meaning “gifted carver.” The great-great-grandson of renowned artists Charles Edenshaaw and Louis Collison, he apprenticed under master carver Christian White and has worked with Dempsey Bob, Joe David, Jim Hart and Beau Dick, among others. Corey is known internationally for his fusion of hip hop culture and Haida traditional style in large-scale spray painted pieces, creating work for the National Gallery of Canada, Facebook Head Office in Seattle, and the Vancouver Mural Festival. Working with mediums as diverse as wood, argillite, gold, silver, glass, textiles, spray paint, and traditional Kiida (hand-poke) tattooing, Corey has steeped himself in the traditional work of his ancestors, forming a foundation for his distinctive contemporary style.
Danika Saunders (formerly Naccarella) is the inaugural recipient of the Crabtree McLennan Emerging Artist Award. A hardworking, talented young artist of Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw and Nuxalk descent, Danika melds her understanding of classic northern Northwest Coast design with Nuxalk style, while remaining respectful to historical rules and traditions. Her graduation from Acwsalcta School in Bella Coola saw her head to Terrace to begin a two-year diploma at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art where she distinguished herself as a methodical, thoughtful, and confident artist. She has been the recipient of the YVR Art Foundation Award, a BC Arts Council Scholarship and the President’s Award at Northwest Community College. More recently, Danika accepted a residency with Earthline Tattoo Training in Kelowna to immerse herself in traditional hand-poke tattooing and skin-stitch techniques. She has returned to Bella Coola to continue learning and to mentor younger Indigenous artists as an art teacher at Acwsalcta School.
The Crabtree McLennan Emerging Artist designation was established in 2016. Named in honour of Brenda Crabtree, Director, Aboriginal Programs, Emily Carr University and the late Bill McLennan (1948-2020), Curator Emeritus, UBC Museum of Anthropology, this recognition aims to highlight and support emerging talent.
Born in Alert Bay, but raised in Victoria, Kevin’s first experience seeing Kwakwaka’wakw art was at the age of four when his father took him to Chief Tony Hunt’s “Arts of the Raven” gallery. Inspired by his father, Danny, and encouraged by his mother, Lily, Kevin’s first formal teaching came in a grade eight native art class taught by relative George Hunt Jr, and was furthered with Tony Hunt and relatives Chief Calvin Hunt, Tony Hunt Jr, John Livingston, and Chief Frank Nelson. Kevin had the opportunity to work at Thunderbird Park at the Royal BC Museum where he assisted Nuu-chah-nulth carver, Tim Paul, on three totem pole projects: a 40-foot pole in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, a 30-foot pole at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, and a 35-foot pole for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. His most fulfilling work is that created for family or ceremony, and to that end he carved a Chief’s Chair for the reopening of the ‘Namgis Bighouse in Alert Bay in memory of his grandmother Gwantilakw-Agnes Cranmer. Currently, with the guidance of his uncles, Chief Calvin Hunt and John Livingston, he is carving a 40-foot totem pole in memory of his father, Daniel Earl Cranmer.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is an award-winning contemporary visual artist of mixed Haida and European ancestry. The descendant of iconic artists Isabella Edenshaw, Charles Edenshaw and Delores Churchill, his early training was under exceptional creators and master carvers of talented lineage. Yahgulanaas has made significant contributions to expanding the understanding of Indigenous art and ideas and has been influenced by both traditional Haida iconography and contemporary Asian visual culture. His visual practice encompasses many forms, including intimate graphic ink drawings, multi-panel watercolours, large-scale public art projects, mixed media sculptures and canvases, and illustrated publications. From repurposed ledger books to reclaimed car hoods, his works are whimsical and original. Yahgulanaas uses his art to communicate a worldview that, while particular to Haida Gwaii, is also relevant to a contemporary and internationally engaged audience.
Steven Davies is a Coast Salish filmmaker and media artist of Snuneymuxw and European descent. He makes collaborative films and media art that centre spiritual, cultural, and political themes, to reconnect with Indigenous histories and epistemologies to educate himself and share with others. Steven feels a huge responsibility to the artists, knowledge keepers, and cultural leaders that have mentored and supported his growth, and the individuals whose voices and actions are shared in his work.
