Native North America Exhibition/ Contemporary Innovations

Indigenous First Nations Canadian artists combine traditional art practice with contemporary minimalism, Pop art, and performance art photography, in this new group exhibition presented in partnership with The Baldwin Gallery.

Robert Davidson is one of Canada’s most respected and important contemporary visual artists.  A Northwest Coast native of Haida and Tlingit descent, he is a master sculptor of totem poles and masks and works in a variety of other media as a printmaker, painter and jeweller.  He is best known as an impeccable craftsman whose creative and personal interpretation of traditional Haida form is unparalleled. Many of his works are considered post-modern masterpieces and are sought by collectors internationally.

Like Davidson, Kwakwaka’wakw artists, Sonny Assu and Steve Smith and Coast Salish artist, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, are inheritors of the Formline art tradition.  Formline art is the primary design element on which Northwest Coast art depends and is distinguished by the use of characteristic shapes.  Formlines are continuous, flowing, curvilinear lines, historically employed in totem poles, house fronts and masks.

Meryl McMaster is of half Plains Cree and half Scottish descent and uses photographic practice to explore history and identity.  Her work is predominantly photography-based, incorporating the production of props, sculptural garments and performance that transports the viewer out of the ordinary into a space of contemplation and introspection.