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Indigenous Art and Material Culture

Celebrating Indigenous art and material culture. Here's a list of some great books on First Nations, Metis, and Inuit artists and their work.

Library Staff
New Westminster Public Library

27 items

  • Beau Dick

    Revolutionary Spirit

    "Beau Dick" presents eighty of the artist's finest masks and contextualizes his work within the Kwakwaka'wakw tradition, while also showing how Dick incorporated contemporary Western influences.
    BookVancouver, British Columbia : Figure.1 ; Whistler, British Columbia : Audain Art Museum, 2018, ℗♭2018. — 970.171 BEA 2018
  • Featuring the largest chronological collection of memorable works of Reid's career in full-colour photographs and images to date.
    BookMadeira Park, British Columbia : Douglas and McIntyre in collaboration with the Bill Reid Foundation, 2016. — 709.7 REI 2016
  • Celebrating Inuit Art, 1948-1970

    Edited by Maria Von Finckenstein ; Essays by James Houston and Ann Meekitjuk Hanson

    An impressive tribute to an art form that was virtually unknown fifty years ago and is now regularly featured in major art exhibitions worldwide.
    BookToronto, Ont. : Key Porter : 1999 — 730.998 C33v
  • Known for her expansive multidisciplinary approach to art making Vancouver-based Dana Claxton, who is Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux), has investigated notions of Indigenous identity, beauty, gender and the body, as well as broader social and…
    BookVancouver : Figure.1 ; Vancouver Art Gallery, 2018. — 709.71 CLA 2018
  • Based on the first full-scale solo museum exhibition and drawing from extensive interviews with the artist, this book presents the story of Dempsey Bob's life told his own way, including extensive and intimate reflections on the creation…
    BookVancouver : Figure 1, 2022 — 736.4074 BOB 2022
  • Gulgáa Ísgyaan Gwáa.u

    Xaadsgyáahlaangee, Jut-ke-Nay Hazel Wilson Gyáa Gyáat'ad

    Wilson, Hazel, 1941-2016,
    An indepth look at ceremonial robes by the Haida artist Jut-Ke-Nay (The One People Speak Of) - also known as Hazel Anna Wilson - viewable in its entirety.
    BookVancouver : Figure 1 ; Kay Llnagaay : Haida Gwaii Museum, [2022] — 746 WIL 2022
  • HuupuKanum Tupaat

    Out of the Mist ; Treasures of the Nuu-chah-nulth Chiefs

    Black, Martha
    HuupuKwanum and Tupaat are Nuu-chah-nulth words that designate everything a chief owns, including hereditary names and songs, objects, dances, rights and privileges, lands, and resources.
    BookVictoria, B.C. : Royal British Columbia Museum : 1999 — 709.7 B561h
  • From the first magical amulets and weapons to the world-famous Cape Dorset prints, Inuit art is discussed by authorities such as Sheila Butler, Charlotte and Edward Lindgren, and Jean Blodgett. For the newcomer, a solid introduction to…
    BookD.W. Friesen & Sons, Altona, MAN, 1988 — 709.7 In8
  • Knowledge Within

    Treasures of the Northwest Coast

    Looks into seventeen of the numerous sites in the Pacific Northwest region with major collections of Northwest Coast Indigenous material culture, bringing attention to a wide range of approaches to caring for and exhibiting such treasures.
    BookVancouver ; Toronto ; Berkeley : Figure.1 2022. — 971.1004 KNO 2022
  • Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

    Unceded Territories

    Impassioned in his commitment to advance First Nations rights to the land and effect change, Yuxweluptun fuses art with political action--he "paints freedom and equality".
    BookVancouver ; Berkeley : Figure.1 ; Vancouver : MOA at the University of British Columbia, 2016. — 759.11 PAU 2016
  • Listening to Our Ancestors

    the Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast

    Sophisticated in conception and execution and rich with symbolism, the totem poles, painted housefronts, masks, dance regalia, feast bowls, and elaborately decorated boxes made by the native people of the North Pacific Coast have long been…
    BookWashington, D.C. : National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution in association with National Geographic, [2005] — 970.171 LIS 2005
  • This collection of essays, personal narratives and historical accounts presents a variety of perspectives on the art and the artists of this vibrant Northwest Coastal people.
    BookVictoria, BC : Royal British Columbia Museum : 2000 — 970.171 NUU 2000
  • Lawrence guides readers through creating their own grass baskets in the unique style of the Sanikiluaq region with step-by-step instructions and photographs.
    BookIqaluit, Nunavut ; Toronto, Ontario : Inhabit Media Incorporated, [2018] — 746.412 LAW 2018
  • Qummut Qukiria!

    Art, Culture, and Sovereignty Across Inuit Nunaat and Sâapmi : Mobilizing the Circumpolar North

    Celebrates art and culture within and beyond traditional Inuit and Sámi homelands in the Circumpolar Arctic — from the continuance of longstanding practices such as storytelling and skin sewing to the development of innovative new art…
    BookFredericton, New Brunswick : Goose Lane Editions, 2022. — 700.89 QUM 2022
  • An innovation in contemporary storytelling from the creator of Haida Manga and the author of Flight of the Hummingbird; it consists of 108 pages of hand-painted illustrations, and when arranged the panels create a Haida formline image 13…
    Comic BookMadeira Park, BC : Douglas & McIntyre, 2014. — GN Yahg
  • S'abadeb

    The Gifts : Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists

    S'abadeb-The Gifts brings together current scholarship with indigenous knowledge for the first time. Twelve essays examine how the history and culture of gifts are reflected in art.
    BookSeattle : Seattle Art Museum ; Vancouver : Douglas & McIntyre, 2008. — 709.71 Sa13b
  • SakKijâjuk

    Art and Craft From Nunatsiavut

    Igloliorte, Heather, 1979-
    Nunatsiavut, the Inuit region of Canada that achieved self-government in 2005, produces art that is distinct within the world of Canadian and circumpolar Inuit art. SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut is the first major publication…
    BookFredericton, New Brunswick : Goose Lane Editions, 2017. — 709.7 IGL 2017
  • So Much More Than Art

    Indigenous Miniatures of the Pacific Northwest

    Davy, Jack
    Jack Davy's highly original exploration of this intricate pursuit demonstrates the importance of miniaturization as a technique for communicating complex cultural ideas between generations and communities, as well as across the divide that…
    BookVancouver : UBC Press, [2021]. — 745.5928 DAV 2021
  • Sonny Assu

    a Selective History

    Assu, Sonny, 1975-
    A stunning retrospective highlighting the playfulness, power, and subversive spirit of Northwest Coast Indigenous artist Sonny Assu.
    BookVictoria, British Columbia : Heritage House, [2018] — 709.2 ASS 2018
  • Tales of Ghosts

    First Nations Art in British Columbia, 1922-61

    Hawker, Ronald W
    The years between 1922 and 1961, often referred to as the "Dark Ages of Northwest Coast art," have largely been ignored by art historians, and dismissed as a period of artistic decline. Tales of Ghosts compellingly reclaims this era,…
    BookVancouver, BC : UBC Press : 2003 — 709.7 H312t