Artwork collections

Left to Right: "Salmon" (1993) by Billy Edmund: a formline salmon carved from yellow cedar and painted red, teal, and black in acrylic, tail raised, head facing right; "Reconciling Light" (2022) by Simon Daniel James: a formline sun carving, grimacing, painted orange, black, red, and white; "Bear" (1984) by Ernie Henderson: a formline bear head carved from cedar and painted red and black in acrylic, facing left, teeth bared — Left to Right: "Salmon" (1993) by Billy Edmund, "Reconciling Light" (2022) by Simon Daniel James, and "Bear" (1984) by Ernie Henderson

UNBC’s collection of First Peoples artwork is a living legacy to Canada’s northern Indigenous peoples and includes over 250 individual works.

The largest collection, from Ray Anderson, was donated in 1999; it includes 25 major Inuit sculptures, 75 smaller soapstone sculptures, and 40 stone-cut Inuit prints. The sculptures are displayed throughout the Geoffrey R. Weller Library, in the Office of the President, and on the first floor of the Dr. Donald Rix Northern Health Sciences Centre. Most of the Inuit works originated from the region now known as Nunavut, and include works from three main communities: Cape Dorset, Pangnirtung, and Baker Lake. Both the carvings and prints document Inuit life and culture as reflected in the forms of the people and creatures.

UNBC’s artwork collection includes First Nations artwork by prominent artists from British Columbia, including Gitxsan artists Ron Sebastian and Michael Blackstock; works by Haida artists Bill Reid, L.D. Scow, Freda Diesing, and Joe Mandur; Nisga’a artists Virgil and Shirley Stanley; and local First Nations artists including John Sam, Derrick Chief, Ella Chief, and Billy Edmund. UNBC’s largest artwork by Haisla artist Lyle Wilson was created for the B.C. Pavilion for Expo ’92 held in Seville, Spain. "Grizzly Bear Transformation Mask" (1991) is a motor-animated transformation mask with costume.