Andy Everson

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Andy Everson (born September 20, 1972) is a contemporary Indigenous Artist born in Comox, British Columbia. He was named Nagedzi after Chief Andy Frank, who was his grandfather. His artworks are greatly influenced by his Comox and Kwakwaka'wakw ancestries. [1] His artwork is said to be "magnificent, beautiful and bountiful and presents strong imagery, tells a tale, sings a song, passes on a legend, dispels myth and in general fills the spirit and the body with a renewed respect". [2]

Contents

Education

Inspired by his grandmother wanting to pursue his traditional culture, Everson completed undergraduate and a master's degree in Anthropology [3] at the University of British Columbia. Because of the location of Comox First Nation that lies on the border between the larger Salish and Kwakwaka'wakw realms, his thesis was heavily influenced by contemporary Comox identity. [4] His extended knowledge in anthropology gave him knowledge about linguistics which helped him create the company—Copper Canoe, Inc that created Aboriginal media. [5]

Early life

Everson began drawing Northwest Coast art when he was a young child. In the 1900s[ when? ] he actually started up his own career as an artist when he started designing and painting "chillkat blankets" for use in ceremonies such as potlatches. He tried to follow the traditions of his ancestors while also adding his own contemporary style to his art. [3]

Other forms of art

Aside from his art, Everson performed dances and sang songs. These ceremonial songs and dances were performed at potlatches and Everson joined dance groups such as the Gwa'wina Dancers and the Le-La-La Dancers [6] and he formed his own group, the Kumugwe Dancers. In 2011, Everson joined a group of Canadian First Nation performers that traveled to Taiwan to perform in one of the nation's 100th Anniversary celebrations as part of the Global Indigenous Peoples Performing Arts Initiative. [2] Everson has participated in culture events in Canada, the Netherlands, Mexico and Taiwan. [7]

Group exhibitions

2018- Recent Acquisitions from the Southwest

Everson was one of the artists that displayed his work at the CN Gorman Museum from October 3, 2018 to December 8, 2018, located at the University of California, Davis. The exhibition displayed artwork from the Pacific Northwest Coast. [8]

2019- Indigenous Futurisms

Everson was an artist that displayed his work at the Indigenous Futurisms exhibition. This exhibition was a mix of traditional art with a futuristic twist to it. [8]

2019- Abadakone

Àbadakone was a group exhibition at National Gallery of Canada, Special Exhibitions Galleries and Public Spaces from November 8, 2019 to April 5, 2020. The exhibition presented contemporary indigenous art. The exhibition also exhibited performance art and videos. [9]

Select artworks

Everson creates most of his pieces on the computer and uses a stylus to draw on his tablet. Using a computer makes files easy to send and change. It is convenient to create art digitally, but some people claim that art created on a computer is not real art. Everson, who is a modernized artist, sees the computer as a tool. His studio is composed of his two giclee printers. Giclee printers are similar to jet printers, but they are bigger and use pigment based-inks to make them last much longer. Aside from computer art, Everson does screen printing work. Screen printing allows him to make art with very bold lines with positive and negative spaces. Everson also experiences with carving, painting and photo realism. [10]

Two of his known artworks are "Idle No More and "No Pipelines. "Idle No More" is a logo of a fist holding a feather. [11] "No Pipelines" is a graphic by Everson that is also used on signs and buttons in Canada and the United States. [11] Everson's artwork is also featured in many teen and kid books such as "Groundswell: Indigenous Knowledge and a Call to Action for Climate Change", "I Am Raven: A story of Discovery", "Je Suis Corbeau" and "Sous La Lune De Corbeau". [12] He has also utilized the Star Wars franchise in his artwork, in order to show how he feels about current issues. [10]

Everson's art was engraved on a three coin set released by the Royal Canadian Mint. The coins had designs of raindrops, sun rays, maple leaves and a sunflower to symbolize the four seasons. [2] The designs of the coins were: Interconnection, beaver, thunderbird, the whale, which represent land, air, and sea. The coins were made of either a solid silver with a hologram finish or pure gold. 1,500 of the gold coins were minted and 7,500 silver coins are available. [10]

Awards

Jubilee Award

Everson earned the Queen Elizabeth II Royal Diamond Jubilee award for recognizing aboriginal veterans. The artwork that earned him this award was "Remembrance". It was a giclee print is a stylized poppy design made up of four thunderbirds. [13]

Related Research Articles

This article is about the spiritual beliefs, histories and practices in Kwakwaka'wakw mythology. The Kwakwaka'wakw are a group of Indigenous nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in the central coast of British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the mainland. Kwakwaka'wakw translates into "Kwak'wala-speaking tribes." However, the individual tribes are single autonomous nations and do not view themselves collectively as one group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potlatch</span> Gift-giving festival and economic system

A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States, among whom it is traditionally the primary governmental institution, legislative body, and economic system. This includes the Heiltsuk, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures. Potlatches are also a common feature of the peoples of the Interior and of the Subarctic adjoining the Northwest Coast, although mostly without the elaborate ritual and gift-giving economy of the coastal peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwakwakaʼwakw</span> Indigenous ethnic group of the Pacific Northwest Coast

The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw, also known as the Kwakiutl, are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their current population, according to a 2016 census, is 3,665. Most live in their traditional territory on northern Vancouver Island, nearby smaller islands including the Discovery Islands, and the adjacent British Columbia mainland. Some also live outside their homelands in urban areas such as Victoria and Vancouver. They are politically organized into 13 band governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transformation mask</span> Type of mask

A transformation mask, also known as an opening mask, is a type of mask used by indigenous people of the Northwest Coast and Alaska in ritual dances. These masks usually depict an outer, animal visage, which the performer can open by pulling a string to reveal an inner human face carved in wood to symbolize the wearer moving from the natural world to a supernatural realm. Northwest coast peoples generally use them in potlatches to illustrate myths, while they are used by Alaska natives for shamanic rituals.

The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to Indigenous peoples in Canada, comprising the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Doug Cranmer (1927–2006), also known as Pal'nakwala Wakas and Kesu', was a Kwakwaka'wakw carver and artist as well as a 'Namgis chief. Cranmer was a significant figure in the Northwest Coast art movement, both in its traditional form and in a modern contemporary form that he created and developed.

KC Adams is a Cree, Ojibway, and British artist and educator based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beau Dick</span>

Beau Dick was a Kwakwaka'wakw Northwest Coast artist and Chief who lived and worked in Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada. He was a contemporary artist, activist and hereditary Chief from the Namgis First Nation. Dick was an award winning artist with an extensive national and international exhibition history.

Susan Point is a Musqueam Coast Salish artist from Canada, who works in the Coast Salish tradition. Her sculpture, prints and public art works include pieces installed at the Vancouver International Airport, the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., Stanley Park in Vancouver, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, and the city of Seattle.

Ursula Johnson is a multidisciplinary Mi’kmaq artist based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her work combines the Mi’kmaq tradition of basket weaving with sculpture, installation, and performance art. In all its manifestations her work operates as didactic intervention, seeking to both confront and educate her viewers about issues of identity, colonial history, tradition, and cultural practice. In 2017, she won the Sobey Art Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Assu</span> Ligwildaxw Kwakwakawakw contemporary artist

Sonny Assu is a Ligwilda'xw Kwakwaka'wakw contemporary artist. Assu's paintings, sculptures, prints, installations, and interventions are all infused with his wry humour which is a tool to open the conversation around his themes of predilections: consumerism, colonization and imperialism.

Phil Gray is a Canadian artist who specializes in wood carvings from the Tsimshian and Mikisew Cree communities. His work uses traditional technique and features imagery from legends. In 2014, Gray was awarded a British Columbia Creative Achievement Award in Aboriginal Art from the Government of British Columbia.

Sherry Farrell Racette is a Métis-Canadian feminist scholar, author, curator, and artist. She is best known for her contributions to Indigenous and Canadian art histories. She is currently an associate professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is a Cowichan/Syilx First Nations contemporary artist from Canada. His paintings employ elements of Northwest Coast formline design and Surrealism to explore issues as environmentalism, land ownership, and Canada's treatment of First Nations peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marianne Nicolson</span> Canadian artist (born 1969)

Marianne Nicolson is a Dzawada’enuxw visual artist whose work explores the margins at which public access to First Nations artifacts clashes with the preservation of indigenous cultural knowledge. She utilizes painting, photography, mixed-media, sculpture, and installation to create modern depictions of traditional Kwakwaka’wakw beliefs, and has exhibited in Canada and throughout the world since 1992.

Hannah Claus is a multidisciplinary visual artist of English and Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) ancestries and is a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation.

Alano Edzerza is a Tahltan artist and entrepreneur. He is a member of the Ganhada tribe and Edzerza's work has been shown in multiple exhibitions and museums.

Tʼuyʼtʼtanat-Cease Wyss is a Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó꞉lō, Kānaka Maoli (Hawaiian), Irish-Métis, and Swiss multi-media artist, ethnobotanist, independent curator, educator, activist, and small business owner based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Tʼuyʼtʼtanat is Wyss's ancestral name, which means “woman who travels by canoe to gather medicines for all people.” Wyss's interdisciplinary practice encompasses aspects of visual art, fiber arts, ethnobotany, storytelling, and community education, among other interdisciplinary approaches, and she has been working with new media, performance, and interdisciplinary arts for more than 30 years. As a Coast Salish weaver, Wyss works with wool and cedar and uses indigenous plants in the dyeing process. Wyss also engages with beekeeping and gardening practices as part of community-led initiatives and as a way to explore aspects of land remediation - the ability of plants to remediate soil that has been contaminated with colonial toxins.

Kamala Todd is a filmmaker, community planner, and curator based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is of Métis, Cree and European descent. Her writing, films, and curatorial practice often revolves around the topic of Indigineity in Canada.  

Roxanne Charles-George is a mixed media artist, activist, curator, storyteller, and cultural historian of Strait Salish and European descent. She previously was a councilor, and continues to be an active band member of Semiahmoo First Nation in Surrey, British Columbia, promoting art, language, and culture. As an artist, she works with a wide range of media. She directly responds to the problems of colonialism, and documents issues that reflect her life experiences such as spirituality, identity, urbanization, food security, resource extraction, trauma, and various forms of systemic violence. As a contemporary storyteller and cultural historian, her goal is to touch, move, and inspire others through her work. Her work employs traditional Semiahma forms of knowledge such as visual representation, oral history, and ceremony.

References

  1. ↑ "Andy Everson - Northwest Coast First Nations Artist | I-Hos Gallery". ihosgallery.com. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  2. 1 2 3 "Andy Everson's artwork etched forever into gold and silver coins". Alberta Native News. 2014-12-25. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  3. 1 2 "Artwork by Andy Everson". www.andyeverson.com. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  4. ↑ "Andy Everson (Artists) - Strong Nations". www.strongnations.com. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  5. ↑ "Andy Everson – Coast Salish Art in Cornett" . Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  6. ↑ "Andy Everson - K'ómoks Artist". Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery Inc. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  7. ↑ "Idle message is what's important, Everson says". BC Local News. 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  8. 1 2 "Everson, Andy | Biography". www.mutualart.com. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  9. ↑ "Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel". www.gallery.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  10. 1 2 3 Debbie Bowman (November–December 2014). "A Cultural Collaboration". InFocus. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  11. 1 2 "Andy Everson". Potlatch 67-67. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  12. ↑ "Andy Everson (Artists) - Strong Nations". www.strongnations.com. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  13. ↑ "Everson earning Diamond Jubilee Award for recognzing aboriginal veterans". Comox Valley Record. 2012-08-07. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
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