Artist, designer, curator and community advocate Lou-ann Neel (BFA 2015) has won a Fulmer Award in First Nations Art from the BC Achievement Foundation (BCAF).

Lou-ann, who comes from a family of renowned Kwakwaka’wakw artists including Charlie James, Mungo Martin, Ellen Neel and Kevin Cranmer, told Victoria News she grew up viewing creative work as something a person simply did, rather than as a calling to a life of exception.

“I just didn’t think anything I did was anything special because I’ve been surrounded by artists my whole life, and my whole thing was, I want to be as good as them. I’ve never seen myself so much as an artist,” she said.

“When I was learning to design, that’s when I realized it’s not just a great privilege to learn but it’s kind of a family obligation to continue our own family tradition.”

Lou-ann has been practicing Kwakwaka’wakw design for more than 40 years. Her practice includes working in jewelry, textiles and hides, paintings and prints, and digital applications including animation, storybook illustration and 3D printing.

“One of Lou-ann’s first passions was carving, and she is continuing to practice the techniques she learned through an apprenticeship in wood carving with her brother, Kevin Cranmer,” the BCAF’s press release says.

Full article by Perrin Grauer

Artists Sonny Assu (BFA 2002) and Annie Briard (MFA 2013) are part of a new limited-edition bilingual book project, spearheaded by artists Jérôme Baco and Michèle Smolkin.

The book, entitled Conversations: Language and Propaganda (Conversations: Langue et Propagande), brings together artworks and texts from four pairs of authors and visual artists around topics including disinformation, propaganda, the persuasive power of language, and the role of the arts and artists in providing space for critique and critical inquiry.

“Because of social media, anonymity and easy access to a large audience, language and propaganda have taken a leading place in our society,” reads the book’s press release. “Each segment of the population accuses another of manipulation, misuse of language, wearing rose-tinted glasses or scaremongering… Everyone has to make … big efforts to sift through the overwhelming amount of information that they receive daily to decide what is propaganda what is not, what is behind the language used, what word is loaded of implied meaning.”

Art offers “a necessary distance to the public, helping them to question their beliefs, and [providing] a catalyst for critical thinking,” the statement continues. The advent of COVID-19, as well as a year of historic protests against entrenched and ongoing systems of racist sociopolitical orders and the violence which supports them have foregrounded the necessity of such conversations, the statement contends, making the book’s publication especially timely.

Full article by Perrin Grauer: https://www.ecuad.ca/news/2020/sonny-assu-annie-briard-featured-in-new-limited-edition-book

Interdisciplinary artist Nova Weipert (BFA 2019) has been named the Vancouver Public Library’s 2020 Indigenous Storyteller in Residence.

The latest addition to Nova’s filmmaking practice — which includes filming, editing and designing sound — is the film project “Leaving Earth,” which was nominated for the President’s Media Choice Award for its “sweeping and immersive soundscapes and imagery.”

Currently, Nova is working on a documentary film series about their recent coming-out as Two-Spirit, and the transition from female to Two-Spirit. According to the VPL, the series will “follow Weipert’s process of decolonization by using moving images, sound and storytelling as a means of understanding their Indigenous identity.” The project is likewise steeped in research about Indigenous history, culture and gender identities.

Speaking with the CBC, Nova recounted how learning about the term “Two-Spirit” had itself been a process of decolonization.

“Realizing that Two-Spirited people were, like, revered as medicine men or women or as very spiritual people or leaders or educators, and then seeing that … it [resonated] with me,” they told the CBC.

In a statement, Nova further expressed their excitement at being able to generate greater public awareness of Indigenous ways of knowing, particularly in regards to their individual experience of becoming Two-Spirit.

Full article by Perrin Grauer: https://www.ecuad.ca/news/2020/nova-weipert-named-the-vpls-2020-indigenous-storyteller-in-residence

Emily Carr University alumni were among the longlist including Tsēmā Igharas (BFA 2011). “I’m in shock and incredibly honoured,” said Tsēmā. “This announcement to restructure the Sobey Art Award is a blessing to all the artists on the longlist and I am grateful to share this gift with them.”

Tsēmā’s practice uses Potlatch methodology to create conceptual artwork connecting materials to mine sites and bodies to the land. She received the Emily Award in 2018.

“Łān Mēduh (Tāłtān for much thanks) to Natasha Chaykowski for the nomination,” she continued, “I want to thank the Sobey Art Award and National Gallery of Canada for supporting the artists on this list and the arts industry in Canada. This action is a microcosm of hope and love for the arts and beyond. Congratulations to all my fellow artists on the longlist as well.”