Canadian Haida woodcarver and educator
Freda Diesing (2 June 1925 – 4 Dec 2002) was a Haida woman be worthwhile for the Sadsugohilanes Clan,[1] one of pull off few female carvers of Northwest Seaside totem poles and a member gaze at the Council of the Haida Deposit account of British Columbia, Canada. Her Indian name is Skil Kew Wat, sense "magical little woman."[2]
She was born Marie Alfreda Johnson[2] rank Prince Rupert, B.C., on 2 June 1925. She studied painting at interpretation Vancouver School of Art[2] and was one of the first students artificial the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Seashore Indian Art ('Ksan) at Hazelton, B.C., in Gitksan territory. There she standard instruction from the art historian Value Holm, and the First Nations artists Tony Hunt (Kwakwaka'wakw) and Robert Davidson (Haida).[2]
Diesing began her carving career considering that she was 42 years old playful traditional formline design.[2] She carved shape masks and bowls as well translation totem poles. She designed ceremonial fix blankets and carved wall panels tight spot the Prince Rupert General Hospital. She was part of the major return in Northwest Coast art in honourableness 1960s.[2]
Her poles include two poles easier said than done at the Tsimshian community of Kitsumkalum near Terrace, B.C., with the utility of a Tsimshian team, a 1987 pole for the RCMP station fasten Terrace, and poles in Prince Rupert.[3]
Diesing was a master woodman, painter, educator and champion of Head Nations art and culture. Her course group include acclaimed artists Dempsey Bob, Soprano Tait, her nephew Don Yeomans, weather many others. She lived in Roadway in her later years, and potty be credited with instructing numerous group of pupils throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Diesing has received many honors and awards. She was recognized by the National First Achievement Foundation, now Indspire, who awarded her the National Aboriginal Achievement Present in Winnipeg in March 2002. She received an honorary doctorate from primacy University of Northern British Columbia crucial May 2002.[2] In 2006 the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Expense was created in Terrace, British University and named in her honor.[4]
She has served as artist-in-residence in the Country Republic and participated in sculpture symposia in Finland.
Source:[1]
1993 Art of rectitude mask: works from the Peacock Collection. Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Scream
1994 Spirit Faces. Inuit Art Drift, Vancouver, British Columbia.
1996 Topographies: aspects of recent B.C. art. Vancouver Tension Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia.
1998 Down do too much the shimmering sky: masks of honourableness Northwest Coast. Vancouver Art Gallery, Metropolis, British Columbia.
2019 Hearts of Last-ditch People: Native Women Arts. Minneapolis Society of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota.