Award Category: First Nations Art Award

Haida artist Alvin Adkins has been creating distinctive, bold and unique works for more than 30 years. Celebrated for his high quality gold and silver jewellery, he is also a talented argillite and wood carver and creates sikscreen prints that underscore his attention to detail and imaginative approach to design. His work is in demand by collectors and he contributes many works to his community to raise funds and awareness for First Nations art and culture.

Lisa Hageman’s dream is to see the ancient art of Haida weaving recognized as the high art it is. She’s demonstrated her passion with thousands of hours practicing the oldest form of textile weaving on the Northwest Coast, Raven’s Tail. In 2009, Hageman created the Hageman-7idansuu Robe, the first entirely z-twist warp, weft and weave Haida robe in more than a century. Designated a Master in Weaving by her mentor and teacher, Evelyn Vanderhoop, Lisa has woven publicly in galleries, museums and showcases in B.C., France and Ireland and has received commissions from museums, private collectors and the Haida community.

Peter Morin uses his training in painting, printmaking and drawing to tell visual stories of his Tahltan culture. A graduate of Emily Carr School of Art + Design, he explores issues of First Nations identity, family and healing. His current work includes lithographs produced from his own stone carvings. Peter is also a community educator, who draws on art to help first nations youth reconnect with their culture and traditional practices.

From the time he was a boy, Richard Sumner always knew he was going to be a carver. It was all around him in Alert Bay, as were the Kwakwaka’wak traditions of fishing and hunting. He’s best known for his achievements in the demanding craft of carved and painted bentwood boxes, using his skills and creativity to incorporate modern designs into an ancient form. His extensive body of work includes ceremonial masks, rattles and poles but his preference has always been for functional objects, like bowls, boxes and spoons. Richard’s bentwood boxes can be found in collections around the world and here at home at the Museum of Anthropology and the Royal British Columbia Museum.

Tim Paul employs traditional Nuu-chah-nulth techniques to create modern totem poles, canoes and abstract contemporary works. He began carving in 1975 at the Arts of the Raven Gallery in Victoria, under the direction of Ben Andrews. For eight years he was Senior Carver at the Royal BC Museum and later headed up a native education program on Vancouver Island. Tim’s work reflects a deep respect for the culture and history of the Nuu-chah-nulth people and a celebration of the fact that it is still being practiced. His art can be found in national museums, galleries and private collections around the world, including Vancouver International Airport.

When Rena Point Bolton was growing up, potlatches and the creation of aboriginal art were banned. Against that backdrop, her life as a cultural leader began at an early age, when her mother and grandmother taught her the traditional songs, history, arts and crafts of her people, passing on the responsibility to keep the traditions alive. Rena has since dedicated her life to learning and teaching the traditional arts of not only the Sto:lo and Thompson nations of her ancestors, but also the Tsimshian arts of her husband’s territory. Her main concern today is for the preservation of the natural world, which is the wellspring of her art. The deep forest is where she respectfully harvests the cedar and spruce roots and cedar bark she uses to create her exquisite baskets.

An artist, leader, and role model, Calvin Hunt creates traditional Northwest Coast Indian art forms that embody his personalized artistic style. A talented and skilled carver, Calvin is best known for creating traditional canoes that bring the community together in voyages of celebration, totem poles that honour his ancestors and encourage young people in his traditional home of Fort Rupert, and large transformation masks and costumes that help bring stories and legends to life. Calvin also works in a number of other mediums, including silk-screen printing, dance screens, jewelry, and stone carving.  His artwork can be found in galleries and private collections worldwide.

Isabel Rorick carries on a tradition handed down from her family. Her art is weaving, most notably, spruce root weaving of traditional Haida hats and basketry. Isabel first became aware of the art at the age of 13 when her grandmother from Ketchikan, Alaska brought cedar baskets to her in Haida Gwaii. Isabel began weaving seriously at the age of 19 and under the guidance of her grandmother mastered the fine and complex art of spruce root weaving, which includes the very careful and respectful harvesting of the roots themselves in the forest. She’s dedicated her life to learning techniques almost lost in the haze of time, by reading, visiting museums and refining spruce root weaving to an artform recognized around the world.