Through the Decades
The Haida Nation produces some of the most iconic and striking Northwest Coast Indigenous artwork. Since its introduction to settler markets over two centuries ago, work from the islands of Haida Gwaii has garnered global renown for its beautiful design conventions and exemplary craft. Historically, these traits were expressed through carved jewellery, crest poles, and painted house fronts (among many other forms), but they would quickly become staples of printmaking upon its popularization in the Northwest Coast Indigenous art sphere. The earliest Northwest Coast Indigenous printmaking took place through the late 1940s into the early 1950s, but it wasn't until the mid 1960s that the artform began seeing consistent print releases and a boom of new adopters, including many Haida artists. By the mid 1970s a body of prints had emerged which, over the next several decades, would evolve and push the language of Haida design to its limits and beyond.
Through the Decades: Late 20th Century Haida Printmaking, aims to give a non-comprehensive visual overview of this evolution through serigraph prints created between the years of 1975 and 1997 by artists such as Bill Reid, Freda Diesing, and Robert Davidson. Through the Decades opens Saturday, March 15th and runs until Saturday, March 29th.
