Yelp Event at Lattimer Gallery

On April 27th of 2015, Lattimer Gallery hosted a Yelp event after hours. Between 6pm and 8pm, Vancouver Yelpers were invited to browse our beautiful art collection while enjoying Nk'Mip 2012 Merlot and charcuterie provided by Quince Catering. 

Established in Osoyoos in 2002, Nk'Mip (in-KA-meep) is North America’s first Aboriginal winery. The winery is a partnership between the Osoyoos Native Band and Constellation Brands Canada. The winery’s mandate is to produce award winning wines made from grapes grown on indigenous native soils. The Inkameep vineyard planted in 1968, produces some of the most prized grapes and further produces some of the most prized wines in the Okanagan Valley.

This invite-only Yelp event was run in celebration of and conjunction with Lattimer Gallery's current jewellery exhibition, Sharifah Marsden - Miigwetch. Lattimer Gallery has been carrying the jewellery and paintings of Sharifah Marsden for six years. 

Sharifah is an Anishinaabe artist from the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation in Ontario who has been living in Vancouver for the past fifteen years, and she strives to fuse her cultural roots with Northwest Coast forms. As her first solo show, Sharifah Marsden - Miigwetch features jewellery pieces created over the past two years during the artist’s studies at the Vancouver Metal Arts School. The word 'miigwetch' means 'thank you' in the Ojibwe language. Under the instruction of European goldsmith Gerold Mueller, Sharifah has learned hollow form jewellery design and stone-setting, processes she has added to her existing arsenal of hand-engraving techniques.

Thank you to all who came out to our event. And thank you to Quince and Nk'Mip for contributing and making this such a successful night!

Winter Commissions

Lattimer Gallery regularly works with customers to facilitate commissions. While we always carry a great selection of fine art in our gallery, people often order special pieces to meet particular needs and spaces. A good client of ours commissioned young Kwakwaka’wakw artist Clinton Work to design and engrave a matching set of solid 22k gold cuff bracelets this spring. Titled Eternal Love, this bracelet design depicts two interlocking wolves, a ghost figure to represent ancestors and love lost, and a human figure to represent future generations and familial bonds. Similar to most of his work, Clint has cropped all of these elements to provide each cuff with a contemporary design. This cropping also draws the eye in, as these are not typical Northwest Coast crest figures. After these pieces were shaped and carved in the round, Clint then hand-stippled all of the flat surfaces, a time-consuming finishing technique that provided the cuffs with a truly sculptural look. 

Lattimer Gallery featured the work of talented Coast Salish artist Cody Lecoy in our Fall 2013 newsletter, and since that time Cody has developed his style and received a YVR Art Foundation Scholarship. This March, we commissioned a painting from Cody, which enabled him to work through the process of completing a custom order. From the initial study in graphite to the finished painting, Cody updated us on his creative process through the entire project. The result - a colourful and surreal 24” x 48” painting titled Resurgence - was fantastic, and this piece is currently available for $1,200.00 CAD. The image below is just a small detail from this large composition. Lattimer Gallery frequently facilitates commissions, and we encourage our clients to contact us for any custom projects they have in mind.

Sharifah Marsden - Miigwetch

Lattimer Gallery has been carrying the jewellery and paintings of Sharifah Marsden for six years. Sharifah is an Anishinaabe artist from the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation in Ontario who has been living in Vancouver for the past fifteen years, and she strives to fuse her cultural roots with Northwest Coast forms. As her first solo show, Sharifah Marsden - Miigwetch features jewellery pieces created over the past two years during the artist’s studies at the Vancouver Metal Arts School. The word 'miigwetch' means 'thank you' in the Ojibwe language. Under the instruction of European goldsmith Gerold Mueller, Sharifah has learned hollow form jewellery design and stone-setting, processes she has added to her existing arsenal of hand-engraving techniques.

Throughout the 15 years I have lived in Vancouver, I have been active in the Native arts community, working in Native art galleries, attending Native arts programs, and connecting with other First Nations artists. The strong influence of Northwest Coast formline has influenced how I have chosen to develop my personal style, and my artistic practice. As I studied and was witness to the creations of the Northwest Coast, I was forced to analyze my own art, in the Anishinaabe style. Through the development of my own style, while living and growing here, I came to create my own sense of formline, within the Anishinaabe tradition. - Sharifah Marsden

This small exhibition will run between April 25th - May 16th, 2015 and an online preview will be available as of April 18th. Please join us for the opening and artist reception on April 25th between 4pm-6pm. Sharifah will be in attendance for this event, and refreshments will be provided. 

Seattle Seahawks Fan Ring

Established Northwest Coast Native artist Kelvin Thompson recently created a masculine hand-engraved ring for a client of ours as an homage to the Seattle Seahawks. Considering the Seahawks logo is actually based upon a historical Northwest Coast Native mask that currently resides in Maine's Hudson Museum, it is not a stretch to see this hawk design applied to a piece of jewellery.

Kelvin created this bold ring by first hand-engraving and cutting out the head of the figure. The head of the seahawk was then soldered onto the sterling silver band. Then, the band was painstakingly stippled, the texture perhaps an allusion to the cheering of the 12th Man. As the final touch, a faceted iolite stone was bead-set in the eye of the bird. This stone is a dark blue colour; a reference to the Seattle Seahawks logo and team colours.

Kelvin carves jewellery in silver and gold, but also creates bowls and masks from alder, maple and cedar. In 1979, he studied under and worked with Barry and Derek Wilson at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre, and in 1980 carved a totem pole with Henry Robinson for the Friendship Centre. He has been adopted into Henry's Haisla family. From oxidizing to intricate cut-out work, Kelvin is always experimenting and trying new things with his jewellery. In addition, he has taught many artists how to carve in silver and gold, and he is passionate about passing skills and information on to younger carvers. From September, 2007 to February, 2008 Kelvin aided Kwakwaka’wakw/Haida artist Dan Wallace in teaching the first annual Northwest Coast Jewellery Arts Program, which was held at Vancouver’s Native Education College. In 2009, Kelvin was commissioned to engrave five cuff bracelets for James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Elton John, and Vicki Gabereau for the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation fundraiser 'An Evening with Diana Krall'.

Corrine Hunt Wedding Bands

It's that time of year again, when Lattimer Gallery gears up for the numerous custom wedding band orders that we receive for weddings that take place during the spring and summer. Ordering custom rings through Lattimer Gallery allows you to select a band that is entirely unique and that meets your particular needs. In terms of material, we work with a wide selection of First Nations artists who use everything from copper and platinum to silver and white gold. In terms of design, you can select a conventional crest figure - such as the raven or wolf - or you can request something less traditional. And in terms of shape, you can request your ring to be flat so it sits flush against your finger, or domed so it has a slight curve and creates a comfort fit.

We have facilitated custom ring orders for over 25 years and always have a large number of artists to work with. We recently worked with Kwakwaka'wakw/Tlingit artist Corrine Hunt on a pair of white gold wedding bands. Both customers loved Corrine's work, but one partner wanted a figurative symbol while the other partner wanted a more modern design. They decided Eagle was the most appropriate symbol for them, so one partner ordered a standard band and the other requested Corrine create a ring with a scalloped edge. The result was fantastic.

Wedding band orders from most artists take between 4-6 weeks. Lattimer Gallery requires a deposit of 50% of the estimated total to get orders started, but we have an open exchange policy and flexible return policy. If our customers are not 100% satisfied with their orders after they come in, we simply refund all deposits. Custom Northwest Coast Native wedding rings are the perfect way to represent this part of the world and to own a truly unique band that will last a lifetime. A wide selection of rings and ring styles can be found on our website: www.lattimergallery.com