On this page
Background learning
This set of resources is just a place to begin. There are many other Indigenous visual and digital artists whose work is exciting to explore.
Coast Salish Art
Peterson, S. (2013). Coast Salish Design 2.0: 2d Design [Video, 5:29 minutes]
Qwalsius (Shaun Peterson). (2010). Coast Salish design elements [Video, 4:52 minute].
University of Victoria Legacy Art Galleries. (2015). Coast Salish Design Elements (includes a 5 minute video at the bottom)
Northwest Coast Art
Canadian Museum of History, Teachers' Zone. (n.d.). Haida arts and technologies: Formline design.
Clark, K. (2022). Northwest Coast art: Basic formline elements and shapes.
Parks Canada. (2013). The Gwaii Haanas legacy pole [Video, 7:20 minutes].
SeaAlaska Heritage Institute. (n.d.). Northwest Coast formline design: Definitions and student activities.
SeaAlaska Heritage Institute. (2019). Discovering Haida art: A personal journey with Master Artist Robert Davidson [Video, 59:23 minutes].
SeaAlaska Heritage Institute. (2020). Formline class with Tsimshian Artist David R. Boxley, part 1 [Video, 41:42 minutes].
SeaAlaska Heritage Institute. (2019). Master Tlingit carver Nathan Jackson on Northwest Coast art. [Video, 13:40 minutes]
Smith, J. (2017). Mixing virtual reality, robotics, and Indigenous art, Shawn Hunt's Transformation Mask goes on view December 2 and 3 at UBC Museum of Anthropology.
Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery. (2022). Guardian of the Gildas carving by Kwakwaka'wakw artist Junior Henderson [Video, 5:16 minutes]
Examples
Brian Jungen (Dane-Zaa and Swiss-Canadian)
Artist profile with gallery of work, Dog River First Nation website
Dinosaur sculptures made from plastic chairs [Video, 1:44 minutes]
Printing two perspectives [Video, 4:49 minutes]
Describes a print making piece built from archival newspaper depictions of Indigenous people.
Themes: Duality, otherness, media, journalism, history, printing, Inuit print making, bi-lateral symmetry.
Andy Everson (K’ómoks and Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw)
Artist profile and gallery of work
Shawn Hunt (Heiltsuk)
Transformation mask [Video, 5:39 minutes]
Hunt and the Microsoft staff The Garage discuss the creation of the Transformation mask.
Themes: Innovation, technology, collaborative creation of art, connection to traditional masks, stories.
Salish Weave Collection
The Salish Weave Collection is comprised of contemporary Coast Salish art that weaves together the distinctive art form, designs and style of established and emerging artists. The collection stems from and mostly resides on traditional Coast Salish territories of British Columbia. George and Christiane Smyth purchased multiple copies of prints, and made them available in Box Sets to school districts across British Columbia so that students and educators might engage with the pieces. In addition, they’ve put many of the prints online along with artists’ descriptions and reflections on their work. For example, the artists whose work has been featured within this series are lessLIE and Maynard Johnny Jr. Dylan Thomas' work is also referenced throughout this series.
See the Salish Weave YouTube channel to hear from the artists.
Artist reflections
In these videos artists discuss themes related to technology, story, personal identity, spirituality, land, family, relationships, intergenerational learning, tradition and innovation as they relate to the production of visual art.
Aaron Nelson Moody [3:52 minutes]
Themes: Technology, story, innovation, traditional tools and classic designs/techniques.
Marvin Oliver [3:13 minutes]
Themes: Architect, petroglyphs, innovation, spirituality, glass and light.
Roxanne Charles [3:23 minutes]
Themes: Weaving and performance art, spanning traditional and modern world, art as education and activism.
Sesemiya / Tracy Williams [4:18 minutes]
Themes: Identity, intergenerational learning, weaving, relationship with more-than-human, fish skin leather, protocol, iteration, learning through trial and error.
Robert Davidson [42:34 minutes - Scroll to bottom of page for video]
Themes: Indigenous art, Haida art, visual language, poetry (at 19:40 minutes), story, formline, intergenerational learning, relearning.
Salish Weave Box Sets: Art and Storytelling project
These videos are conversations with artists whose work is in the Salish Weave Box Sets. Three of the four videos are fairly long, 40-90 minutes and wide ranging. (Transcripts are available.) They cover artistic technique, but also touch on topics like history, poetry, innovation and mathematics. Consider how engaging with the art pieces explored might connect with multiple parts of the B.C. Curriculum.
lessLIE
In conversation [Video, 41 minutes]
Pieces mentioned:
Themes: Innovation grounded in tradition, Visual puns in poetry and in art, discussion of traditional design elements, wealth and spindal whorls and art, community connections, reconciliation
Bill Reid Gallery. (2018). Intangible feature artist, lessLIE [Video, 3:23]
Themes: Relationship of music and visual art, intersections between western and Indigenous culture, nature and manmade environment as inspirations, stereotypes, innovation
Maynard Johnny Jr.
In conversation [Video, 1:21:28 minutes]
Pieces mentioned:
Themes: Salish design elements compared to northwest coast formline, process of learning art, art and saving the world, art as a bridge to uncomfortable conversations, source of colors available to different Indigenous groups, innovation anchored in tradition.
Dylan Thomas
In conversation [Video, 1:19:32 minutes]
Pieces mentioned:
Themes: Trade routes and materials used in art, influence of traditional and modern art on his work, mathematics and geometry, stories that inform artwork.
Patterns in visual arts
Fathauer, R. (2020). Tessellations: Mathematics, art, and recreation. CRC Press.
McDonald, J., and Weston, H. (n.d.). Frieze designs in Indigenous art.
Taggart, E. (2021, September 18). Take a tour of tessellations, the mathematical art of repeating patterns.
There is a video at the end showing examples of a mathematician/artist creating tessellations through paper folding that is quite unique. [3:20 minutes]
Thomas, D., & Schattschneider, D. (2011). Dylan Thomas: Coast Salish artist. Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, 5(4), 199–211.
Widewalls. (2016, July 10). Tessellation patterns: From mathematics to art.
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Patterns in nature.
Digital expressions of Indigenous knowledges
Bill Reid Centre display space
- Sq’éwlets: A Stó:lō Coast Salish Community in the Fraser River Valley
- Intangible: Memory and Innovation in Coast Salish Art
- Huyat: Our Voices, Our Land.
- Bill Reid: To Speak With a Golden Voice
Haida Now at the Vancouver Museum
Living tradition: the Kwakwaka’wakw Potlatch of the Northwest Coast
The facilitators of the Indigenous Art Practices series have done their best to ensure that the resources included here are respectful. If you see a resource that you have a concern about, please reach out.