Meet the YVR Art Foundation’s Emerging Indigenous Artists of 2022

Donating to the YVR Art Foundation since 2005

The YVR Art Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organization founded in 1993 by Vancouver International Airport, with a mission to support the development of First Nations artists. So far, the YVR Art Foundation has delivered over $750,000 in scholarships, grants, and awards to artists working in woodcarving, weaving, textile and fashion, jewelry design, painting, printmaking, photography, film, and other media. Their work comes to fruition through four programs and awards: the Emerging Artist Scholarship Program; the Mid-Career Artist Scholarship Program; the Bill McLennan Masterpiece Study Program, and the Aspiring Artist Awards Program.

As one of the foundation’s original corporate donors, Kasian has been supporting the Emerging Artist Scholarship Program since 2005. Empowering Indigenous initiatives is close to our hearts, and not just in BC. From Alberta’s Red Crow Community College — the first tribal college in Canada — to Stanton Hospital in the heart of Northwest Territories, we’re proud to create space for vibrant First Nations culture to express itself to the world. 

The YVR Art Foundation Emerging Artist Scholarship Program awards $5,000 each to emerging Indigenous artists aged 17 to 29 who are based in British Columbia and Yukon, allowing them to study or work with a mentor artist or attend an art school. Following a year of study and creation, scholarship recipients present their work to the public. Along the way, they tour museums and galleries, make creative connections through networking, and learn what it takes to thrive as full-time professional artists. Scholarship recipients winners also have the opportunity to exhibit their art work at the Vancouver International Airport, itself a work of Indigenous-inspired art and one of Canada’s main gateways to the world.

This 2022 cohort of emerging Indigenous artists represents a diverse body of work across mediums ranging from carved wood to textiles and fashion.

2022 Emerging Artist Scholarship recipients:

Randall Bear Barnetson, Nadleh Whut’en Dakelh from Vancouver
Violet Gatensby, Tlingit from Carcross, YT
Danika Saunders, Nuxalk and Gwa’sala-Nakwaxda’xw from Bella Coola
Tlehpik Hjalmer Wenstob, Tla-o-qui-aht from Ty-Histanis
Derek White, Haida from Masset
Ella White, Gitxaala Tsimshian from Burnaby
Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun, Snuneymuxw from Nanaimo

2022 Mid-Career Artist Scholarship recipients:

Danielle Louise Allard, Haida from Masset
Jay Bellis, Haida and Kootenay from Masset
Levi Nelson, Lil’wat Nation from Mount Currie

Besides strengthening their respective creative traditions, these artists are expanding the vocabulary of art in Canada. We’re excited to see what these young people create, how the year ahead will shape them as artists and community members, and how they’ll grow in the years and decades to come.

Young artists have an established history of decisive growth and achievement once they undertake this program. 2017 scholarship recipient Asia Youngman created the short film Lelum’, which won Best Documentary Short at imagineNATIVE in 2017. She said, “Without the award, I’m not sure that I would have discovered my passion for storytelling at that point in my life.” 2016 and 2019 scholarship recipient Joshua Watts has expanded his sculpture and printmaking practice to create community-scale projects, including a 21-foot totem pole in Lake Cowichan. You can find more stories from Emerging and Mid-Career Scholarship recipients here.

We enjoy a 25-year relationship with YVR, crafting and sharing a creative vision for the future of this beautiful region and the people who call it home. We invite you to share this vision and help bring it to fruition—join us in supporting the YVR Art Foundation.