Jamika Aksidan, a young Nisga’a artist, has received a 2020 Aspiring Artist Award from the YVR Art Foundation.
The YVR Art Foundation is a not-for-profit organization set up to support B.C. and Yukon Indigenous artists. Their Aspiring Artist Award is given to a handful of B.C. and Yukon artists between the ages of 15 and 20. Each awarded artist receives $500 to support their work.
Aksidan is a grade 12 student at Nisga’a Elementary Secondary School in Gitlaxt’aamiks. Her work incorporates traditional designs on paper in two dimensions as well as on wood, silver and copper in three dimensions.
She thanked her art teachers, Warren Adams and Keane Tait, for guiding her development as an artist.
Aksidan said she is interested in attending the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art after graduating high school, according to a news release from the Nisga’a Museum in Laxgalts’ap, which partnered with the YVR Art Foundation to identify Nisga’a artists eligible for the award.
The Nisga’a Museum also highlighted artist Billie Davis as an honourable mention. Davis is in her third year of studying visual arts at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo. Her portfolio features drawings with a contemporary take on traditional themes and original use of colour, the news release said.
Aksidan and Davis will have their work shown at the Nisga’a Museum during its upcoming season.