Winners of 2022 Fulmer Award in First Nations Art, Carter Wosk Award in Applied Art + Design share exhibition, November 14 to 18
Haida artist Reg Davidson has received Fulmer’s Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement
Reg Davidson, 4 Seasons -limited edition print. Photo via Lattimer Gallery
Reg Davidson.
BC Achievement presents the Fulmer Award in First Nations Art and Carter Wosk Award in Applied Art + Design combined exhibition at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre from November 14 to 18
BC ACHIEVEMENT FOUNDATION is presenting a combined exhibition that will showcase works by recipients of the 2022 Fulmer Award in First Nations Art and the Carter Wosk Award in Applied Art + Design.
Presented annually, The Fulmer Award honours First Nations artists in B.C. who have demonstrated a commitment to their practice, accumulated a body of work, and are recognized in their communities for their craft. The program aims to celebrate First Nations artistic traditions while creating a platform for community engagement, mentorship, and storytelling.
The 2022 recipients, chosen by an independent jury, are Jamie Gentry: Kwakwaka'wakw, Sooke, Crabtree McLennan Emerging Artist; Latham Mack: Nuxalk, Kamloops; Qwul’thilum Dylan Thomas: Lyackson First Nation, Victoria; and Reg Davidson: Haida, Masset, Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement.
Jamie Gentry.
Moccasins by Jamie Gentry.
Gentry specializes in making custom moccasins to order, each pair cut, beaded, sewn, and carved by hand. Her goal is to make meaningful connections and share culture through her art, while contributing a purposeful, sustainable product to the world.
Mack learned carving from his late grandfather, hereditary chief Lawrence Mack, and by Grade 10 he had helped carve a 20-foot totem pole with Tony Speers. At Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art, Mack was mentored by world-renowned artists such as Stan Bevan, Ken McNeil and Dempsey Bob, and later apprenticed under Bob for five years. His works can be found everything from Museum of Anthropology at UBC to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle.
Dylan Thomas. Photo by City of Victoria
Thomas, who trained in jewellery techniques with the late Seletze (Delmar Johnnie) and studied various mediums of Northwest Coast art under Rande Cook, is now mainly focused on exploring Coast Salish sculpture. Thomas was Victoria’s Indigenous Artist in Residence from 2019 to 2021.
Davidson, meanwhile, is a master Haida artist recognized for his numerous and significant contributions to protecting and advancing Haida culture. He is known for producing significant traditional ceremonial objects such as masks, bentwood drums, and dance regalia. An accomplished dancer, he has mentored and taught two generations of Haida children the importance of Haida language and traditional song and dance. As an avid fisherman, he has provided his elders with food while participating in ecological protection projects to help safeguard the abundance of sea life in Haida Gwaii.
Davidson’s carvings have been commissioned locally and internationally. His large sculpture grouping of the Blind Halibut Fisherman is on view at Vancouver International Airport, while his most recent project is a memorial pole in dedication to the life of his nephew, Ben Davidson.
“All of us at BC Achievement Foundation are delighted to recognize the four 2022 recipients of the Fulmer Award in First Nations Art,” BC Achievement Foundation chair Anne Giardini says in a release. “Their work ranges widely, inspiring us with new visions while building on deep traditions. This year’s awardees join almost 90 artists from the Award’s past 16 years. Fulmer Award alumni show us this year and every year that British Columbia is a place where artistic innovation and creativity are second to none anywhere in the world.”
The Fulmer Award jury was made up of Nathan Wilson, Haisla and 2020 recipient; Shawn Hunt, Heiltsuk and 2011 recipient; and Xémontélót Carrielynn Victor, Cheam First Nation and 2018 recipient. Advisors were Connie Watts, associate director of Aboriginal Programs at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and artist of Nuu-chah-nulth, Gitxsan and Kwakwaka'wakw ancestry; and Brenda Crabtree, director of Aboriginal Programs at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, a member of the Spuzzum Band with both Nlaka’pamux and Sto:lo ancestry.
The Fulmer Award in First Nations Art is made possible through the support of the Vancouver-based Fulmer Foundation. BC Achievement is an independent foundation established in 2003 that celebrates the spirit of excellence in our province and serves to honour the best of British Columbia.
The foundation’s Indigenous Business Award recipients will be recognized at a formal gala ceremony open to the public on November 29 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Tickets and details are here.
More information about the 2022 Carter Wosk Award in Art + Design can be found here.
Related Articles
