Award Category: First Nations Art Award

Dale Campbell is an internationally recognized carver, known for her masks, plaques and totem poles. As well, a button blanket that Dale designed and constructed was selected for a year-long exhibition entitled “Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth”, first shown in Australia.  Dale finds much of her inspiration in the myths and legends of her Tahltan and Tlingit people. Dale has added jewellery and glass etching to her practice.  Her work has been shown in the Museum of the Northern BC and the Museum of Anthropology and is in collections in North American and abroad.

Over the past 30 years, carving in his Tahltan-Tlingit tradition, Ken has produced an impressive body of work that has been exhibited across Canada, in the US and internationally.  A master carver, Ken creates works from miniature to large-scale, from small sculptures to totem poles. He is a founding instructor of the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art at Northwest Community College in Terrace.

Marlene Liddle has been weaving with cedar bark since 2008, after a lengthy apprenticeship gathering and preparing the red and yellow cedar of Haida Gwaii. Descended from a long line of Haida carvers and weavers, Marlene was mentored by master weaver Christine Carty in the traditional disciplines of cedar bark Haida hats. Marlene now weaves hats in a contemporary style that incorporates both traditional techniques and modern materials.

Sammy Robinson is a Haisla carver from Kitamaat Village on the northwest BC coast. A self-taught artist, he began carving when he was 11 years old, creating wooden toys for Christmas time. He soon turned his attention to Haisla history and culture and began carving in his unique, finely-detailed style, producing pieces in wood, silver and gold. He travels the world sharing his culture and stories, but only sells his work from his carving shop in Kitamaat Village.

Mandy Brown has kept alive the coil basketry tradition of her Nlaka’pamux people that dates back centuries. She has taught women in her community to make both baskets and moccasins and passed on the traditions to generations of young people. Her work is featured in the First Peoples Hall of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and the Museum of Anthropology. Mandy has contributed to her community as a social worker, member of the band council, and a trustee of the school board.

David Wilson’s beautiful and complex paintings have evolved from his childhood fascination with ancient Interior Salish pictographs. He studied the styles and principles of Haida and Coast Salish art, but his preoccupation has always been with the art of the Interior Salish. His work is inspired by the same stories of the natural and spiritual world depicted in the rock paintings of his ancestors. He’s not only created the work; he’s worked hard to share it, with public displays in Vernon’s Spirit Square, Performing Arts Centre and Jubilee Hospital.

Morgan Green is a passionate, revitalizing force in Tsimshian culture. She infuses Tsimshian tradition with a contemporary approach. She experiments with many different media and styles: metal engraving and casting, wood sculpture, painting, traditional regalia and fashion design. Morgan has apprenticed with artists Richard Adkins and Henry Green and learned European jewelry techniques from a German master goldsmith. She’s developing her own contemporary style, with a deep respect for the traditions of Tsimshian art.

More than 40 years ago, Gitksan artist Philip Janze hammered and carved his first piece of silver out of a coin. That began a lifelong exploration of gold and silver jewelry. Early on he made painstaking efforts to learn from other artists and mastered the technique of repousse. In the decades since, he’s produced a fine body of delicate and intricate pieces that have won him worldwide recognition. He’s also carved wood and made silkscreen prints. Influenced by his grandmother, Flora Martin among others, he is recognized as a leader in the revival of Northwest Coast Art.