Award Category: First Nations Art Award

Skeena Reece is a multi-disciplinary artist who challenges, informs and enlightens audiences through her performance art, video, photography and the characters she creates. Skeena studied at Northwest Community College, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the Banff Centre of Arts. She incorporates her multi-tribal Tsimshian/Cree/Metis heritage into a mix of traditional knowledge, humor, socio-political observations and spiritual testaments to transform viewers’ preconceived notions of the Aboriginal experience.

Wayne Alfred’s work expresses the traditional culture of the Namgis Band and the oral and written traditions of his family. His carving of poles, boxes, masks, bowls, frontlets and rattles reflects historical accuracy and impeccable technique. As an historian and dancer, he brings an authentic sensibility to all his work. Wayne’s art has been showcased in critical exhibitions and catalogues of First Nations’ Northwest Coast art and is in collections around the world.

Innovative master artist Norman Tait is widely celebrated for the exquisite craftsmanship and beauty of his work. The designs are clean, the carving is immaculate and expressive. But more than that, his pieces evoke strong feelings in people who see them. Because he’s a storyteller, speaking in an authentic, distinctive Nisga’a voice. Norman Tait’s style is like no other; unique yet respectful of the Tsimshian tradition that is his cultural foundation. Early influences – Freda Diesing (design), Gerry Marks (silver engraving) and his father, Josiah Tait (poles) – contributed to Norman becoming the foremost Nisga’a artist working in wood, precious metals and graphics. His poles have been raised around the world, in places like Port Edward, Chicago, London, Osaka, Stanley Park and UBC’s Museum of Anthropology.

Jay Simeon is a member of the Haida Nations Sdast’a’aas Eagle clan from Kiusta. Simeon has built a reputation for meticulously rendered pieces in a variety of scales and materials such as precious metals, wood and argillite. From jewellery to masks to wood carvings and ceremonial regalia, Simeon interprets traditional art form in a contemporary setting.  Simeon has participated in many exhibitions, including the 2010 Stonington Gallery’s Winter Exhibition in Seattle that featured his unique, argillite totem pole bracelet.

Heiltsuk artist Shawn Hunt is a multidisciplinary artist who works in red cedar, sterling silver, paint, glass, water and fire. By engaging the contemporary context with art forms rooted in rich, historical traditions, Hunt tells his stories and challenges his audience. He apprenticed with his father, J. Bradley Hunt, and also received his BFA at UBC and a studio art diploma from Capilano College. Shawn’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the McCord Museum in Montreal, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, as well as the Bill Reid Gallery and Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver.

Kwakwaka’wakw artist, Sonny Assu has created a strong voice in the First Nations artistic community through his innovative technique of combining traditional and contemporary forms. A 2002 graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design with a degree in Print Media, Painting and Digital Arts, he displays a respect for older traditions through the lens of popular and contemporary culture in his multi disciplinary art practice. Assu’s work can be found in the Museum of Anthropology in BC, the Seattle Art Museum and the National Gallery of Canada.

With formal training at the Kitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art in Hazelton and an apprenticeship with his uncle, Dempsey Bob, Stan Bevan, for over thirty years, has produced an impressive body of work which includes masks, poles, bowls and frontlets created in the Tsimshian and Tahltan-Tlingit style. Stan is a dedicated instructor at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in Terrace. He has received significant provincial, national and international commissions and his work is widely exhibited.

Vera Edmonds is a master cedar root weaver who practices and teaches traditional Lil’wat weaving. Edmonds learned the art form from her grandmothers and today her contemporary basketry is both technically and aesthetically outstanding.  She is committed to keeping the Lil’wat weaving tradition alive by teaching the younger generations. The Lil’wat Cultural Centres in Mount Currie and Whistler house her original works as well as older and valuable pieces she has carefully restored.

As the granddaughter of famed weaver, Isabella Edenshaw, Primrose Adams descends from a rich heritage of weavers and Haida artists. She has developed the techniques of spruce root weaving taught by her mother and grandmother and has become one of the finest artists of her generation. Her contributions to the ancient art form can be found in both local and international collections.