Marianne Nicolson facts for kids

Nicolson's The Harbinger of Catastrophe (2017).

Marianne Nicolson (‘Tayagila’ogwa; born in 1969) is a Dzawada’enuxw artist. She creates amazing visual art. Her work shows how important it is to protect the knowledge and traditions of First Nations people. She uses painting, photography, sculpture, and installations. Her art shares traditional Kwakwaka’wakw stories and beliefs in a modern way. She has shown her art all over the world since 1992.

About Marianne Nicolson

Marianne Nicolson was born in 1969 in Comox, British Columbia. Her mother is from the Dzawada'enuxw First Nation. Her father was a Scottish immigrant. Marianne decided to become an artist when she was only five years old. In the early 1990s, she learned traditional Kwakwaka’wakw design from a master carver.

Nicolson is a strong supporter of Indigenous land rights. She shows this important message in her artwork. She is also very involved in her community. In 2019, she led a project with over 55 people. They created special pictographs as part of a fish farming protest. These pictographs helped bring the community together. They were also inspired by her famous cliff painting from 1998.

Today, Marianne lives in the Kwakwaka’wakw community of Kingcome Inlet, British Columbia. She moved there in the 1990s.

Her Education Journey

Marianne Nicolson has studied a lot! In 1996, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She then continued her studies at the University of Victoria (UVIC). In 1999, she received her Master of Fine Arts. She went back to UVIC in 2005. There, she earned a Masters in Linguistics and Anthropology. Later, she completed her PhD in Anthropology and Art History at UVIC.

She also studied the Kwak’wala language. She researched how Indigenous languages connect to their ways of seeing the world.

Awards and Recognition

Marianne Nicolson has received special awards for her work:

• Emily Award: In 2019, she won the Emily Award from Emily Carr University. This award celebrates amazing achievements by former students.
• Fulmer Award of Distinction: Also in 2019, she received the Fulmer Award of Distinction. This award honors people who have made a big difference for their First Nations culture.

Her Artistic Work

Marianne Nicolson creates art using many different methods. She uses photography, painting, carving, video, and installations. She also creates large public art pieces. All her work has a political message. She wants to share and protect Kwakwaka’wakw traditional ideas. She uses modern art and technology to do this.

Marianne Nicolson's art has been shown in many countries. Her work has been in galleries like the Vancouver Art Gallery. You can also see her large public artworks in important places. These include the Vancouver International Airport. Her art is also in the Canadian Embassies in Amman, Jordan, and Paris, France.

The Famous Cliff Painting

Marianne Nicolson became well-known after her Cliff Painting. She finished it in 1998 in her homeland of Kingcome Inlet. This huge pictograph is 28 by 38 feet. It is on a 120-foot cliff! It tells the story of the Dzawada‘enuxw tribe. This was the first mural painted there in sixty years. It celebrates the strength of her community, Gwa’yi. The painting shows a copper design, which means wealth. It also shows Kawadilikala, an ancestor of the Dzawada'enuxw. He is carrying a treasure box with the sun on it.

Important Art Exhibitions

Bax'wana'tsi - The Container for Souls

This art installation was shown in Vancouver and Ottawa in 2006. Nicolson created a light box for this piece. It cast shadows of a raven, an owl, and two young girls. The girls were her aunt and mother when they were young. The light box filled the whole gallery. People walking through became part of the art. The artwork shared memories of Aboriginal life and community.

The House of the Ghosts

Nicolson changed the Vancouver Art Gallery for this exhibition. She turned it into a Northwest Coast Ceremonial House. This special projection was shown from October 2008 to January 2009. The gallery building used to be a courthouse. Through her art, Nicolson showed hope for the survival of First Nations cultures. This was important because there were past efforts to stop them.

Walking on Water (Thin Ice)

This art piece was shown in 2013. Nicolson created blue glass sculptures. They looked like killer whale fins. In Kwakwaka’wakw tradition, killer whales mean healing. Other symbols included owls. Owls carry the spirits of those who have passed away. Owls are also becoming endangered. This art talks about global warming. It was inspired by a big flood in Kingcome Inlet. The title "Walking on Water (Thin Ice)" suggests that people are ignoring big problems.

A Precarious State

This large artwork was a 6-foot by 35-foot blue glass wall. It had a carved image of a sinking killer whale. Figures were riding on the whale. It was unclear if the figures were causing the whale to drown. Or if they were drowning with the whale. This art was made for the Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, in 2013.

Foolmakers in the Setting Sun

This exhibition was in 2014. It showed special dan`tsikw (powerboards). These boards are used in a traditional Kwakwaka’wakw ritual. The art had carvings of a ghost and two "foolmakers" on glass boards. Light shone on the boards, like a sunset. It made shadows of the ghosts grow taller. The shadows passed through an image of the Alberta Tar Sands. This art piece talks about global warming. It shows how pipeline projects could harm the planet. It shares this message through the Kwakwaka’wakw worldview.

The Rivers Monument

Her art piece The Rivers Monument is at the Vancouver International Airport. It has been there since 2015. It has two tall blue glass poles. They are like totem poles from the Northwest Coast. There is water around them and a wooden bench. The glass poles show Indigenous designs inside. They represent the Columbia River and the Fraser River. They tell the story of how dams built by European settlers harmed salmon. The dams also covered thousands of ancient Indigenous pictographs. Marianne Nicolson was happy the airport chose her "very political" artwork. She felt it helped raise awareness about Indigenous peoples and their history.

AWI'NAGWISKASU: Real Land

This exhibit ran from April to July 2017. It showed Nicolson's paintings, installations, and videos. The artworks shared worries about the waters around her community.

Tunics of the Changing Tide

In her 2007 painting Tunics of the Changing Tide, Nicolson painted two special garments. They had figures of a Thunderbird, a mink, a snake, and a tree. Outlines of ravens, wolves, and people were in the background. Objects like coppers and coins, showing wealth, were attached. This painting talks about the economic ups and downs for the Kwikwasut’inuxw and Dzawada̱’enux̱w people. It shows how their economy changed because of colonization. It also refers to the "potlatch ban" law. This law made traditional ceremonies illegal. A coin from 1929 on the Thunderbird shows how Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw traditions came back. It shows their strength against being forced to change.

To refuse, to wait, to sleep

This exhibition was held in 2017. Nicolson's piece "The Sun is Setting on the British Empire" was made for it. She changed the British Columbia flag. She put the Union Jack (British flag symbol) below a setting or rising sun. The sun was drawn in the Kwakwaka’wakw style. Nicolson showed how the flag used to look (1895-1906). In that old version, the sun was above the Union Jack. This suggested a good relationship between the Crown and Indigenous nations. But in 1906, the symbols were flipped. This change showed a relationship of unfairness and harm. By putting the symbols back, Nicolson's art gives hope. It shows the strength of Indigenous rights over the land. This art piece is still outside the gallery today.

Waterline

Nicolson's artwork Waterline was shown in 2018. It focuses on sacred waterways that give life. The sculpture looks like traditional bentwood boxes. As light moves up and down, it shows animals and symbols important to Nicolson's Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. This art refers to ancient Kwakwaka’wakw cliff pictographs. These old paintings are in danger. Industrial structures now control river water levels. This causes ancient pictographs to disappear under rising water, then reappear.

Hexsa'am: To Be Here Always

This exhibition was in 2019. Hexsa'am: To Be Here Always highlights a lawsuit. The Dzawada'enuxw First Nation wants to extend their land rights to water. They are fighting against fish farms near Kingcome Inlet. The lawsuit and exhibition raise important questions. They are about Indigenous control over land and water. This art helps people understand these issues in a new way.

Other Exhibitions

• Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, (2019), Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.