Gerry Marks is a Northwest Coast artist representing the Haida nation. Gerry Marks was born in 1949 and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. Marks works a printmaker and jewelry artist.
Marks attended the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art. The school is located in the historical village of Ksan at Hazelton.
The artist began to explore his heritage after seeing some works by his grandfather whose name was John Marks. John Marks was a highly respected metal smith and maker of fine jewelry.
Price range information: No pricing on prints. Jewelry ranges between $1,000 and $35,000 Canadian dollars.
Marks is part of many permanent museum collections across Canada including the Royal British Columbia Museum located in Victoria, British Columbia.
I-Heart is a street artist based out of Vancouver, British Columbia with a style similar to Banksy. The artist, like Banksy, prefers to remain anonymous.
I-Heart enjoys making statements about social media in art.
The artist has made famous works around Vancouver including a mural in Stanley Park, the second largest park in North America behind New York’s Central Park.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
The artist Banksy is also a fan of I-Heart. Bansky shared an image the mural in Stanley Park on his website and it went viral. With the work I-Heart wanted to show how connected but yet disconnected we are now thanks to the Internet and Smart Phones.
Below a brief interview with I-Heart:
I think Andy Warhol would be a huge fan of I-Heart for the way the artist incorporates mass social media in his work.
Wanda Koop is a Canadian painter of the landscape in a modernist style. Wanda Koop was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in the year 1951. The artist was raised and still resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The artist attended college at the University of Manitoba located in Winnipeg.
Koop works in other mediums including video art. For her paintings most works are made with acrylics.
Koop was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2005.
In this clip from Waddington’s Auction House of Canada, where so many of the Inuit auctions take place, we view a wonderful signature work from 2007 that sells for more than $26,000 at auction:
Koop has multiple works in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Her works are also in museums in Iceland and China.
Koop is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Below a brief interview with the artist:
This artist is great because she does a great job in trying to give her local community as much art as possible. She opened a place called Art City where people of any age can go and receive free art instruction. Art City is located in Winnipeg.
Rupert Scow was born in Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada in the year 1957. Scow comes from a family tree full of artists including Mungo Martin. Scow represents the Kwakwaka’wakw of the First Nations Tribes.
The artist attended the Native Education College located Vancouver, British Columbia.
Scow works mainly as a carver of masks and totem poles. He has studied with many artists profiled here including Wayne Alfred.
What I enjoy most about this artist is his great use of color. Where as many masks seem to use the traditional black and red, Scows works stands out in a gallery with his great use of color and the unique and very expressive masks he produces. His characters have very individual expressions, its as if he has captured the spirit of someone rather than a likeness.
From the Museum of Anthropology a brief segment on the artist:
Alano Edzerza is a First Nations artist renown for his prints of wildlife. Edzerza is also an outstanding entrepreneur who has brought the First Nations art into commercial apparel. Imagine wearing your favorite first nations art design as a dress, this is possible thanks to the vision of Alano Edzerza.
The artist attended school in Arizona where he learned to work with jewelry. He has also studied with many artists in private settings.
Edzerza was born in the year 1981 and has been making art his entire life.
Edzerza represents the Raven clan of First Nations Tahltan people.
In this clip we visit the artist in his studio and see how he lives on a daily basis:
In 2010, the artist secured a deal to design the wear for the Dutch Winter Olympic Sports Team.
Edzerza loves giving back to the community and has helped with local programs that help younger artists to succeed as artists and business people.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
What I enjoy most about his artwork is his sense of close up depictions of his work. When I first saw his work I imagined Andy Warhol might paint something so large in scale with such a limited palette if he worked in the First Nations style of design. Its great to see such art and designs finally making it the widespread consumer market.
Wayne Alfred was born in Alert Bay which is located on Vancouver Island, Canada in the year 1958. Alfred is renown for his carvings of masks. Wayne Alfred represents the Kwakwaka’wakw tribe of First Nations of Canada.
The artist has seven siblings.
Moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1986 when he was commissioned to help carve a large totem pole for Stanley Park. For those of you who haven’t visited Vancouver, Stanley Park is the second largest public park in North America behind Central Park located in New York City. This commission was completed with the help of artist Beau Dick.
Price range information: Works range from $1,000 to $10,000. Alfred produces carvings and also jewelry.
Stan Douglas is a contemporary photographer born in Vancouver, British Columbia in the year 1960. Douglas works in many mediums including photography, film, and installations. Douglas has won prizes for his photography and video work. For his collegiate studies Douglas attended the Emily Carr University of Art and Design located in Vancouver, British Columbia.
A major theme for the artist is the modern world. What are expectations might have been years or decades ago, to what they are now. Race is a sometimes a focus, as he is a black Canadian. I would call him the opposite of Kara Walker and her work with people of color.
Whereas Walker concentrates on feelings like sex and racism, Douglas tries to emphasize a feeling of isolation. He was one of few people of color in a mainly white Vancouver area. In this clip a great example of this as the artist films himself being mistaken for another person of color. Sometimes he felt invisible in his society, not the anger or rage that a Kara Walker personality might feel:
In this clip a brief interview the artist gives thanks for winning an award for best photography in 2013:
Three time participant in the Venice Biennale.
The artist lives and works out of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Winner of a grant from the International Center of Photography.
In 2008 Douglas won the Bell award for best video artist.
In the late 1980s the artist made several short films less than one minute long that were shown on television in place of commercials. People couldn’t figure out what was going on and actually called the station to ask what was being offered for sale. This clip has many of these short segments:
Douglas enjoys taking a box office movie, then updating the interior and slowing it down. In many ways the artist has similar ideas to Andy Warhol. One video short had two films going at the same time. One the edited version, the other side showed what was cut out. This is a similar format to what many critics say was Warhol’s best movie, The Chelsea Girls. In this movie two films are shown side by side, with one in color and one in black and white.
Another idea Douglas uses that is similar to Warhol is his idea to stop time or at least slow it down.
price range information: Photographs range from $3,000 to $30,000.
Bill Reid is among the most famous Haida artists of all time. Bill Reid was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in the year 1920. His father was American and his mother a member of the Haida tribe. He learned to make jewelry from his grandfather, who had himself studied under a renown jewelry artist.
A brief biography about Bill Reid:
Bill Reid also attended the Ryerson Institute of Technology, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he also learned how to make jewelry. He began his art career making jewelry and then progressed to large works in traditional Haida materials including red and yellow cedar.
Bill Reid passed away in 1998 at the age of 78 years old from problems due to Parkinson’s disease.
Reid gifted a large donation to Simon Fraser College upon his death. In this clip we view some of the collection:
Has had his artwork featured on the $20 Canadian bill.
The artist has works in many prominent locations around the world including the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Canadian National Museum in Ottawa, Canada.
Another brief interview with Bill Reid;
Bill Reid was also an activist of keeping people out of the rainforest.
John Livingston is a Northwest Coast artist who wasn’t born into a tribe, but rather adopted by one. Livingston was born in 1951.
Based out of Vancouver, British Columbia.
In this work he talks about his work with human face and the sun. I love hearing about artists talk about their work:
The artist learned to carve by watching masters Tony and Henry Hunt. The father and son and taken over for Mungo Martin as the lead carvers at the Thunderbird Park carving program.
Livingston works in a very large format and has received many commissions. On some works he has done collaborations with other notable artists including Robert Davidson.
Has worked on nearly 30 very large traditional totem poles, hand carved since he began his career in the 1960s. These very large works are usually made to celebrate a particular time or celebration.
price range information: sorry none available.
In the tradition of art in their close knit community, only certain clans could work with certain imagery. Northwest Coast art was only to be made by its native peoples. Livingston though not a tribe member, was adopted by the Kwakaka’ wakw tribe and is allowed to practice their design and motif works.
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