Relationships shaping artistic practice

Curve! Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast
by Dana Claxton and Curtis Collins (curators)

Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2024
$45  /  9781773272542

Reviewed by Christine Añonuevo

*

The phenomenon of Northwest Coast art resides in living descendants of ancient cultures bringing forth ancient aesthetics into contemporary art making.   –Dana Claxton 

Curve! Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast, is a catalogue book featuring texts by Dana Claxton, Skeena Reece, and Marika Echachis Swan with interviews by Curtis Collins, Mary Anne Barkhouse, and Dale Campbell. The stunning book documents over 80 years of artistic production alongside full-colour images of work by female artists showcasing diverse art forms such as masks, spoons, bowls, poles, and panels deepening our understanding of Northwest Coast carving. The book’s publication accompanied the Audain Art Museum’s exhibition in Whistler, BC which opened on November 23, 2024, and closed May 5, 2025, and is regarded as the first large-scale group exhibition dedicated to women carvers. Both the book and exhibition are a love song to an impressive genealogy of women carvers and the relationships that shape their artistic practice.  Each of the artists portrayed in the book–like a unique piece of wood, bone, or argillite they carve–teaches us something significant about their communities, their clans, and their personal histories.

Curve! follows 14 female artists from different territories and their pursuit of carving alongside their intergenerational stories. These carvers include: Ka’kasolas, Ellen May Neel (Kwakwaka’wakw, 1916-1966), Skil Kew Wat, Freda Diesing (Haida, 1925-2002), Ha’hl Yee, Doreen Jenson, (Gitxsan from Kispiox, 1933-2009), Susan A. Point, (Musqueum, b. 1952), Tahlthtama, Dale Marie Campbell (Tahltan-Tlingit, b. 1954), Marianne Nicolson (Musgamakw Dzawad’enuxw, b. 1969), Simjolek, Arlene Ness (Gitxsan, b. 1971), Melanie Russ (Haida, b. 1971), ƛ̓upinup, Marika Echasis Swan (Tla-o-qui-aht, Nuu-chah-nulth, Irish, Scottish, b. 1982), Morgan Asoyuf (Née Green), (Ts’msyen, b. 1984), Yahl ‘Aadas, Cori Savard (Haida, b. 1985), Cherish Alexander (Gitxsan from Gitwangak, b. 1987), Stephanie Anderson (Witsuwit’en, b. 1991) and Veronica Waechter (Gitxsan from Gitanmaax, b. 1995).

The exhibition and book’s name evoke a movement–the chase for the perfect curve–the balance between negative and positive space and the ancestral and contemporary expression of carving. The book reminds us that Northwest Coast art has matrilineal roots and that women have been carving since time immemorial. Carving is simultaneously a material, cultural structure and a living practice that bends time by remembering ancestral tradition and offering expansive contemporary aesthetics.

Curve! documents the importance of cultural lineage as well as the anecdotes of these 14 influential artists lives. The artwork displayed in the book is a testimonial to the vitality of the history and continuing legacy of Northwest Coast art. Viewers of the art are witnesses to the enduring endeavours of these women practitioners who are breathing forward their lived artistic experiences and extraordinary creative spirit.

The book contains 120 photos and calls attention to the often-invisible contributions of women carvers through curatorial and interview-based essays foregrounding the voices, personal histories, and power of contemporary women artists. Carving as an art form is revered throughout the book with particular attention to its ability to record and witness significant place-based insights. The visual art making of carving exemplifies an enduring creative spirit honouring traditional knowledge while transforming aesthetic properties into contemporary cultural knowledge. Especially noteworthy are artists Ellen Neel, Freda Diesing, and Doreen Jenson who are the driving inspiration for the exhibition and the book. Matriarchs who carried forth carving traditions at times when cultural production was criminalized and eradicated. Mavens who exemplify the creative spirit of cultural continuation when Indigenous communities were recovering from the impacts of historical state-led colonial violence that threatened and harmed their communities.

I will highlight some of the Gitxsan, Haida, and Wit’suwit’en female artists whose works I have had the privilege of seeing up close and in-person across the Northwest.

Freda Diesing was a revered Haida artist who was mentored by iconic artists Robert Davidson and Dempsey Bob. Her legacy continues through the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in Terrace, BC.

Doreen Jenson, Ha’hl Yee, wore many hats: cultural leader, carver, writer, and curator from Kispiox and was influential in the creation of the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Art. “Women play an important role in the preservation of my culture’s history and traditions because we’re a matrilineal culture,” she says. She taught Gitxsan-language courses at the University of British Columbia as well as art at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Arlene Ness of Wilp Tsi Basaa-Git Luxhl Lim Het’ Wit is a Gitxsan artist practicing and pursuing traditional and contemporary Northwest Coast carving and design. Ness begin her formal studies at Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Art at ‘Ksan.  She went on to study at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art and recently held a solo exhibition at the Misty Rivers Art Gallery in New Hazelton.

Cori Savard, Yahl’ Aadas is a Haida artist who began exploring all art forms when she was fifteen. She has been mentored by Reg Davidson and Ben Davidson and is a multidisciplinary artist working from her studio in Lawn Hill, Haida Gwaii.

Cherish Alexander was one of the first graduates at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in Terrace, BC and recalls being the first woman in the program. Among her teachers were Stan Bevan, Ken McNeil, and Dempsey Bob. She is passionate about artistic production and draws inspiration from her home community of Gitwangak.

Stephanie Anderson, when discussing her carving speaks to the strength of her tso, grandmother, Violet Gellenbeck, Ts’ake ze’ K’ilisët, who passed away in early 2024. Anderson’s grandmother worked tirelessly to record Witsuwit’en oral history and to revive traditional language. Anderson credits her late grandmother’s strength, and knowledge as pillars of her art form.

Veronia Waechter is an interdisciplinary artist of Gitxsan and European ancestry. She studied at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art where she learned foundational skills in carving. She graduated from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2018 and completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Ontario College of Art and Design University. She is part of the Northwest Coast Creatives art collective.

Woven throughout the book are stories about relationships between the artist’s tools, mentors, and memories centred around the gift of the tree and the relationship between the artist and the viewer. Curve! was the winner of the Bill Duthie Award at the BC & Yukon Book Prizes in 2025.

As a result of the popularity and success of Curve! in Whistler–as well as the national media coverage it has garnered–this landmark exhibition will be shown at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. A condensed version of the exhibition, featuring over 60 pieces, will now travel to the National Capital Region, marking the first time an exhibition curated at the Audain Art Museum has been shown at the National Gallery of Canada. The exhibition runs February 13, 2026 until June 14, 2026.

*

Christine Añonuevo lives with her partner Guu Si Wil Ak Set and their family in northern BC. She is nourished by the gifts of the Gitxsan Lax yip daily. She holds a PhD in Human and Health Sciences and was the recipient of the 2025 Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic achievement at the University of Northern British Columbia. A critical scholar and a creative writer, Christine’s writing can be found in Arc Poetry Magazine, and Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing, published by Cormorant Books. She is the publisher of Northword Magazine, the only independent regional print magazine serving Haida Gwaii to Lheidli T’enneh.

*

The British Columbia Review

Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie

Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.

“Only connect.” – E.M. Forster