Women Carvers of the Northwest Coast

An eighty-year overview of wood and argillite carving by Indigenous women artists on the Northwest Coast.

Though women of the Northwest Coast have long carved poles, canoes, panels, and masks, many of these artists have not become as well known outside their communities as their male counterparts. These artists are cherished within their communities for helping to keep traditional carving practices alive, and for maintaining the dances, songs, and ceremonies that are intertwined with visual art production. This book, and an associated exhibition at the Audain Art Museum, gathers a range of sculptural formats by Indigenous women in order to expand the discourse of carving in the region.

Both the exhibition and publication are co-curated by Dana Claxton, artist, filmmaker and head of the University of British Columbia’s Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory; and Dr. Curtis Collins, the AAM’s Director & Chief Curator. Commentaries by Skeena Reece, Claxton, and Marika Swan, and interviews with artists Dale Campbell and Mary Anne Barkhouse are presented alongside more than one hundred artworks from public and private collections across North America, including several newly commissioned pieces.

Featured artists include:

• Ellen Neel (Kwakwaka'wakw, 1916–1966)
• Freda Diesing (Haida, 1925–2002)
• Doreen Jensen (Gitxsan, 1933–2009)
• Susan Point (Musqueam, b. 1952)
• Dale Campbell (Tahltan, b. 1954)
• Marianne Nicolson (Kwakwaka’wakw, b. 1969)
• Arlene Ness (Gitxsan, b. 1970s)
• Melanie Russ (Haida, b. 1977)
• Marika Swan (Nuu-chah-nulth, b. 1982)
• Morgan Asoyuf (Ts’msyen, b. 1984)
• Cori Savard (Haida, b. 1985)
• Cherish Alexander (Gitwangak, b. 1987)
• Stephanie Anderson (Wetsuwet’en, b. 1991)
• Veronica Waechter (Gitxsan, b. 1995)