When you've reached the edge
of your world, ours begins.
Spring & Fall e-News will keep you updated on what's happening on Haida Gwaii
What’s New
Check out the Haida Gwaii Tourism Blogspot - it's all about Haida Gwaii! Updated Monday mornings
Skidegate Haida Language 'Word of the Week:
May 14th: 'Xaana Kaahlii' and means 'Skidegate Inlet' (the x has a 'back of the throat sound' and the 'k' is a popping back throat 'k' sound
May 7: 'laana - means 'town' (the l has a 'pinched l-sound)
April 30: 'Tllaal Llnagaay' - means Tlell Village / Tlell is a community located mid-Graham Island (close to Port Clements)
April 23: 'ngaal' means 'kelp' (the 'ng' blends together as in 'sing' or 'long')
April 18: 'tluu' means 'boat' (rhymes with 'new')
April 11: 'xaagu' - means 'halibut' (the x has a 'back of the throat sound)
April 4: 'chiina': means 'fish' (the 'ch' sounds like 'ch' in chair or chalk)
Mar 28: 'Guud' and means 'Eagle' (
Mar 21:
Mar 14: 'kun' and means 'whale' - The 'un' sounds like the double 'o' sound in 'look' or 'book'
Mar 7: 'taan' - means 'black bear' (the 'aa' is a soft 'a' sound such as in 'father')
Feb 29: 'xaayda' (Haida) - means 'people'. The 'x' is a back throat sound
Feb 22: 'gwaay' (rhymes with my, pie, sigh) Meaning: Island. We have also seen it spelled as Gwaii (Haida Gwaii)
Feb 15: 'k'ay' (rhymes with sky). Meaning: Sealion.
Feb 8: 'k'aaw' ('aaw' sounds like 'ow'). Meaning: Herring roe on kelp -(and it tastes so good!)
| Annual Festivals |
What to do
Art Route Tour
'Click' on the Art Route icon for a tour! Check out the artists fully featured below!
Haida Gwaii is known for its rich history of art and culture. Historically, Haida carvings and creations were not necessarily regarded as “art” but rather as a functional component of ceremonial society. Following European contact, Haida art began to be recognized and valued beyond its practical uses.
We are fortunate today to celebrate the Arts on Haida Gwaii. Haida art has been preserved in museums worldwide including masks, totem poles and regalia. Many books document this powerful history. Today, we can celebrate this preservation and the possible repatriation of these treasures to their homeland.
Many carvers continue the Haida traditional techniques. Renowned artists such as Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, Reg Davidson, and Jim Hart have made great strides in showcasing Haida art and culture. The development of the Bill Reid Teaching Centre and Carving Shed within the Haida Heritage Centre at Kaay Llnagaay in Skidegate will be another asset for those wishing to discover the meaning of Haida forms while they visit the Islands.
Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands has attracted many creative people who have come to enjoy the natural environment as inspiration for their creativity.
Emily Carr, famous member of Canada’s Group of Seven, left a legacy of documented works of old Haida village sites and Toni Onley supported the Delkatla Wildlife Sanctuary with his watercolour originals. Cultural exchanges have also taken place with the Hopi, artist Jessi Monangue and a Maori delegation from New Zealand.
Numerous artisans have chosen to call Haida Gwaii home. These islands have attracted sculptors such as Lon Sharp, batik artist Betsy Cardell, water colour artists (Benita Saunders and Sheila Karrow), acrylic artists (Sheila Karrow and Kiki van der Heiden) and gemstone jeweller Dutes Dutheil.
Take the Art Route Tour! Meet the artists and experience their passion for this amazing place and its cultural history.
There are many Galleries and Artists/Artisans on the Islands. Pick up a copy of the Art Route brochure produced by Haida Gwaii Tourism listing artisans islands-wide. Some have dedicated storefronts, some work out of their home - all welcome you. Enjoy the islands' hospitality!
Haida Gwaii Art Route Featured Artists
More detail follows on the amazing artists featured in Art Route! Check it out!
Maryanne Wettlaufer
Canadian painter, Maryanne Wettlaufer was born in Stratford, ON in 1965. Wettlaufer was raised on a dairy farm, which is where her adventurous spirit and love for nature was nurtured during endless solo hours of horseback riding through the rural palette of Southwest Ontario. Her formal Art Education was at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, with her fouth year spent in Florence, Italy doing independent study. Wettlaufer takes inspiration from the Group of Seven and all other contemporary creatives who desire to express the vast raw expanse of Canadian Landscape.
Wettlaufer currently resides on Haida Gwaii where she is exploring the relentless natural forces that create the beauty of western Canadian landscape that inspired the likes of Emily Carr.
Maryanne states that “I am exposed to the raw forces that have created the scene before me. I have been blown, bent, soaked, frozen and lit up by the elements.
I enjoy the honest connection to place that these adventures provide as well as how they inform and authenticate my application of paint to surface as I return
to my studio”.
Maryanne’s studio is located in Masset. You can contact or visit her through the Art Route Brochure/Art Route Tour http://www.gohaidagwaii.ca/what-to-do/art-route-tour/or visit her website http://maryannewettlaufer.com/and Facebook page http://maryannewettlaufer.com/
Maryanne says “Being part of the Art Route provides me with the opportunity to connect with some of the traveller's who come to Haida Gwaii each year.
I enjoy hearing about their adventures on Haida Gwaii and it is an honour to provide some of them with a piece of art that reflects my passion for this place”.
Maryanne’s paintings can be viewed at www.maryannewettlaufer.com . Her art cards are available as well as original paintings - please ‘click’ on the 'contact me' link on her website.
Dolores (Dolly) Garza
Haida/Tlingit Artist: Traditional Northwest Design in contemporary expressions
· Spruce Root and Cedar Bark Basketry
· Raven’s Tail and Chilkat Weaving
· Native design & appliqué
· Beading
Sgang gwaay or Dolly Garza is a Haida-Tlingit basket and raven’s tail weaver. She was born in Ketchikan, Alaska. Following her matrilineal culture, she is Kaiganii Haida, from the Sxaalants clan with eagle, frog and sculpin crests. On her Tlingit father’s side she is Tiin-nei dee (Raven, dog salmon). She was also adopted to the L’uknax.ádi and given the name Xaat Sháawát which means Spruce Root Woman.
Sgang gwaay learned basket weaving from several Haida and Tlingit weavers including Delores Churchill, Teri Rofkar, Holly Churchill and Diane Douglas-Willard. She also apprenticed with Teri Rofkar for raven’s tail weaving. She has been weaving since the mid-1980s. She lives in Skidegate in Haida Gwaii.
Dolly has participated in the Heard Museum/TOCA Basketry Gathering since 1990 winning awards in the 2005 & 2006 Heard Museum/TOCA Basketry Gathering juried art show.
In addition, she won awards in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in the Heard Indian Market juried art shows. These included the Juror’s Choice ribbon (2009), First place in ‘Traditional Basketry’ (2010) and 2nd Place in ‘Textiles’ (2011).
Dolly was recently awarded First Place in ‘Twined Basketry’ and First Place in ‘Textiles-Cultural Attire’ at the Santa Fe Indian Market (2011).
Dolly is an annual participant in the Haida Gwaii Art Route Tour and can be contacted at dgarza@haidagwaii.net.
Brian Eccles
Canadian artist Brian Eccles, born and raised on the coast of British Columbia, has lived on Haida Gwaii pursuing a career in the fishing and forest industry for more than 35 years. Retiring in 2009 he now finds more time for creativity and to work on his many art projects.
As a craftsperson and artist, Brian is mostly self-taught and has been influenced by his island surroundings and his travels in Europe, Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Brian has worked in graphic arts field as a screen printer as well as being a potter and a worker in wood and stone. He produces a series of art and fish tiles and trivets as well as hand thrown raku and pit fired pottery for shops and galleries along the north coast.
In the past few years Brian has been experimenting with casting of silver and gold from organic material found in nature to create unique island jewelry. A display is of samples of his most recent work which can be seen along with his other art projectsat: www.charlottegraphics.ca
Dutes Dutheil - Crystal Cabin Gallery
Welcome to my world! As a refugee of the early 70s arriving on Haida Gwaii was like coming home.
In those days youth travelled all around the country and found places to live off the land.
Like so many young people of that era leaving the politics and uptight urban lifestyle and reconnecting to the land was a cherished ambition. After several years at north island the winds of change drifted me to civilised Tlell where I started building a home. In those days work was fishing and then carpentry and anything that would pay.
Lapidary work began for me at the age of 12 when my father built grinders and sanders to work with stone. Getting back into stone cutting in Tlell, I taught myself silverwork from books, learned gemstone faceting and finally went to goldsmithing. First started selling what I made at craft shows and off island music festivals and from a little cabin on Richardson Road. It was really great and things just grew and grew with the generous patronage of islanders. Today 20+ years later am still selling my “artisan jewellery” talismans and amulets at Crystal Cabin Gallery. This is my day job.Thanks so much, I am so grateful and a big H’awaa to all the kind islanders. You have taught me so much!
Check out the website www.crystalcabingallery.com
Sarah’s Haida Art & Jewellery
My gallery is located in my home on beautiful Haida Gwaii formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. The gallery and my home meld together as one.
My late husband Claude Davidson’s son, Reg, gave us a carved door when he first started to carve wood. We designed and built the gallery in a Haida longhouse style to have it match the beautiful door. The gallery opened in 1975. The artists in the gallery are my friends and relatives. They are all of Haida ancestry and often sold some of their first pieces to me.
The gallery carries many carvings in gold, silver, copper, argillite, ivory, and wood as well as a large selection of woven cedar bark art pieces. We have a selection of printed sportswear and Haida regalia available as well as original paintings and limited edition prints and lots of art cards. The selection of northwest coast art books and natural history books is also extensive.
Sarah’s Haida Art & Jewellery gallery has been referred to as Old Massett’s unofficial visitor centre!
Located in Old Massett at 387 Eagle Ave, the gallery is open most days year round from 9 am -6pm. You are welcome to call and make an appointment at other times - 250-626-5560.
Please visit our website http://www.sarahshaidaarts.com/browseCatalog/?nPrdId=64857
Denis Bell
I am greatly inspired by the coastal landscapes of Haida Gwaii. If you see someone just standing and staring at the beach, it is probably me observing and forming a vision of my painting on an imaginary canvas.
Back in the studio I am confronted by a blank canvas and from the first brush strokes to the last, each stroke is guided solely my artistic vision. This gives a great feeling of joy and a great feeling of artistic freedom.
Through my paintings you can experience the coastal landscapes of Haida Gwaii, and feel the quiet pleasure of a warm sunlit beach or the motion of waves moving across a bay.
Please, enjoy the paintings,
http://www.qcislands.net/denisb/coastal.html
Tom Oord
Born to Dutch immigrants, Tom Oord grew up in Kitwanga, BC and has been an ink artist for the past four years. Tom also has a talent for designing and creating handmade walking canes after having made several for himself to assist with his balance.
Tom says that his art ‘slows down the jumble of chaos flying around my head and gives me a chance to get things down on paper. I can then take my time and meditate on them…Painting and drawing have been my voice’.
Working on a painting or a cane, Tom says, ‘becomes my entire universe and everything else just fades away’.
Tom’s work can be ordered and range in price from $50-500.
250.559.8116
Sheila Karrow
Award winning watercolour Artist and teacher, Sheila Karrow lives with her family on Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands). Sheila's watercolour and acrylic paintings can been seen at the Burdette Gallery in Ontario and across the West coast of British Columbia.
Sheila's paintings communicate both a literal and metaphorical understanding of the natural world. She strives for an intimate connection with the subject yet also reveals the unknowable reality of such a form. As with her earlier work, she continues to explore traditional imagery genres of light and dark and nature cycles. Her compositions are finely painted in a realist style, yet the pictures are surreal in content. Amidst the conflicting and powerful symbols, there is always the promise of redemption.
Sheila’s highly rendered images in acrylic and watercolour reveal the intensity and interconnectedness of life. The soil is filled with details of roots and new plants; and in looking deeper, one can see an abstraction of form. In her most recent images, there is a duality in the masculine and feminine symbols creating tension between the two sides.
“I am interested in the invisible line between land and sea. The soil, rocks, plants and animals that genesis in forest loam, share their existence with the life below the water surface. The space between land and sea tells us about ourselves."
Sheila’s website can be found at http://www.sheilakarrow.com/Check it out!
Jason Shafto - Full Moon Photo Studio
A native of southern Ontario, Jason realized he was a northerner at heart when he was in his early twenties. In 1999 he moved to Haida Gwaii to live near the ocean in an isolated northern community, eat a lot of seafood, and become more connected with First Nations culture. “Through hard work, persistence, and participation in local communities, the rest of my life has sort of naturally settled into place during my years here.” Jason lives on a small farm in Tlell.
Over the last few years he has been increasingly busy as a professional photographer, and is currently at an exciting point in his arts career where he finds himself practising his photography full-time. He operates his business under the name of Full Moon Photo.
“As a photographer on Haida Gwaii I shift between commercial and creative photography. It's fair to say that there's a creative artistic element to my commercial photography. I think it's also fair to say there's a commercial element to my art photography, too. Finding an effective balance between the two is one of the greatest challenges I face as an artist entrepreneur. Allowing myself the time to step away from the business aspect of my photography to be truly creative is much more difficult than one would think.”
Jason moves into a new studio on May 1st of 2012. To stay informed on what he's up to with his business, check out his Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/fullmoonphoto
You can also check out Jason's photography on the Full Moon Photo website - http://fullmoonphoto.ca/ To contact Jason, visit the “Contact Us” page, also on the website.
Janet Rigg - Sewn Art Canvases
Janet was born in 1977 into a family that long had the painting spirit. Her Grandfather painted, her mother painted, and her uncle painted. In her early teens she was the proud recipient of her Mother's oil painting supplies, which she immediately began to experiment with. She still uses the same painting box today.
Janet completed two years of a Fine Arts degree from Concordia University in 2000. In 2001 she began her Masters Degree in Art Therapy from the same university. Exploring how the creation of art can heal and illuminate revealed to Janet important aspects of her dual identity of artist and therapist. This led Janet to pledge to honour her art and always have it as central in her life.
In 2006, Janet moved from Montreal to the islands of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. The incredible beauty and power of the Haida Gwaii landscape inspires each new piece. Her art has been shown all over the Islands, regularly exhibiting at the All Islands Art Show. She had a solo exhibition at Queen B’s in 2008 and regularly has works at Sitka Studio and All About U Arts.
Janet is well known for her SewnArt canvases. These paintings are part sculpture, part painting. Randomly sewn together pieces of canvas create a textured backdrop, which guides how the painting is expressed and propels her two-dimensional painting into three dimensions. There is a tension in her paintings as a result of the rough stitching pulling the canvas together and the image thus created. Beautiful, constrained, surprising, and unique, each painting is a one-of-a-kind original.
Janet’s paintings can be seen online at www.sewnArt.ca. When she isn’t painting, she is practicing Art Therapy www.JRcounselling.ca, organizing the Edge of the World Music Festival on Haida Gwaii www.edgefestival.com and caring for her two young children.
Michael Mayr - Archer Arts
I was always fascinated by wood and working with it. I started early, carving sticks and mobiles out of rootwood, following the given form of mother nature. Soon, I wanted to do more than that: three-dimensional work fascinated me.
After many years I decided to take the entrance exam for the Schnitzschule Oberammergau and was accepted.
The training included script, written and carved (calligraphy); nude drawing; modelling with clay (nude, nature study, portraiture, drapery, relief); painting; etching; pigment; gold and silver application on wood; lathe work; cabinet building; stone work; epoxy/fiberglass work; welding; printing; carving; and casts in various media. In addition I worked with glassblowers, learning their skills.
Using a wide variety of local/repurposed mediums Michael creates hand crafted objects such as traditional archery equipment, forged knives/tools, wood carvings, leather work, local coral beads and jewellery.
For more information about Michael and his craftmanship, please see www.michaelmayrcreates.com
Michael also provides one on one and ‘classroom’ instruction in the various arts – his workshops are listed at http://www.michaelmayrcreates.com/workshops.html
Michael can be contacted at info@michaelmayrcreates.com
Kathy Pick
Living for over three decades on Haida Gwaii has informed my knowledge and appreciation for local plants. Most of my current work involves reusing materials or gathering sustainable materials such as grasses, willow, pine, cedar barks and kelp. I also use traditional material such as reed a sustainable vine found in tropical climates.
I have shown my work locally, nationally and internationally. I am a recipient of two Canada Council grants, and a Vancouver Foundation Grant. One such grant allowed me time to experiment and work with kelp and provided the opportunity for me to create unique vessels.
My creative process allows me to move in different directions using what is at hand, acrylic paint, plant papermaking, basket weaving, sewing and knitting are all part of my repertoire.
You will most likely find me in late spring and summer at the Farmers Market in Queen Charlotte or my new studio on 4323 Relax Road, Queen Charlotte, email kathypick@hotmail.comor call my cell @ 250 637 1940 and make arrangements to drop by. My work will also be at the Sandspit Visitor Centre and Sitka Studio in Tlell.