Introducing the First Nations artists behind our collection of Northwest Coast Native art prints
Robert Jackson was born in 1948 in Port Edward, near Prince Rupert—a community that produced several major Northwest Coast artists, including Dempsey Bob and Norman Tait. Robert and Dempsey credit their childhood friendship and the need to carve their own toys as the spark that led them into art. They...
Roy Henry Vickers was born in 1946 in northern British Columbia and has lived his entire life on the West Coast. His father was Tsimshian, Haida, and Heiltsuk, and his mother came from an English immigrant family. This blend of cultures strongly shapes his art. Vickers is best known for...
Stuart Pagaduan is a Coast Salish artist and a culture and language teacher. He feels honoured to combine art, education, and culture in his work. Stuart credits his grandparents for teaching him the value of his language and traditions. He works to pass those teachings to the youth in his...
Susan Point is a Coast Salish artist from the Musqueam First Nation. Her community’s territory lies within today’s City of Vancouver. At 29, she enrolled in a Native jewellery course at Vancouver Community College. Around that time, she discovered Coast Salish art. Very little information existed, and she didn’t know...
Tim Paul was born in 1950 in Esperanza Inlet on Vancouver Island. A Nuu‑chah‑nulth/Hesquiaht artist, he began painting at age ten and later learned carving in his twenties under John Livingston and Ben Andrews. Soon after, he assisted Richard Hunt in the Thunderbird Park carving program. From 1984 to 1992,...
Trevor Husband was born and raised on Haida Gwaii. His mother’s family is Cree from Sweetgrass, Saskatchewan, with French and Irish roots. His father’s family is Gitxsan, English, and Scottish. He grew up in a close community and spent most of his childhood outdoors—fishing, hunting, and camping. At 18, Trevor...
Tyson Brown is a Haida artist from Skidegate, Haida Gwaii. He grew up surrounded by Haida art as the grandson of renowned artists Bill Reid and Billy Stevens. As an adult, he completed an apprenticeship with Haida artist Robert Davidson. Brown takes inspiration from his people’s history, stories, current events...
Vernon Stephens is an Indigenous artist from Hazelton, BC. He was one of the main instructors at the famous Gitanmaax School of Northwestcoast Art throughout the 1970’s. Vern is best known for his innovative and contemporary graphic design work. One of the major features in Northwest coast art are formlines....
Wayne Young was born in 1958 in Prince Rupert, BC into the Eagle Clan of the Nisga’a. Wayne attended school in Prince Rupert and began his career as an artist there. He began drawing at an early age and received his first instruction in the techniques of Northwest Coast design...
William Cook is a Kwakwaka’wakw artist from Alert Bay, BC. He comes from a family of artists: his brother is well known Kwakwaka’wakw artist Rande Cook, and his niece is Jazmine McCrimmon-Cook. Early in his career, William received training from his grandfather Gus Matilpi, and Kwakwaka’wakw artist Francis Dick. At...