Photos by Limesoda Photography
Live Auction Artists
Anouk Hartwell
Anouk Hartwell’s love for art and nature has been a guiding force throughout her life. Raised on
the prairies, she was captivated by the vast, windswept landscapes, but it was the
unforgettable family trips to Vancouver Island that truly ignited her passion for spending more
time in nature. These trips introduced her to towering trees, expansive beaches, snow-capped
mountains, and wild, flowing rivers—elements that would later become central themes in her
Artwork.
Anouk began drawing and painting at a young age, a passion that led her to studying Fine Art
at the University of Manitoba. Later, her adventurous spirit led her to pursue a college program
in tourism and outdoor recreation. This decision marked the beginning of a period of dogsled
and kayak guiding, further deepening her connection to nature.
After years of moving around like a nomad, Anouk found her true home in the Pacific
Northwest, specifically the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. This stunning landscape, with
its mountains, oceans, forests, and multi-hued skylines, became the primary inspiration for her
acrylic paintings. Her artwork reflects her profound love for nature, focusing on its vibrant
colours, textures, and unique perspectives.
Anouk is a member of ARTWRX Studio/Gallery in the Comox Valley, where she paints full-time.
Anouk’s work has been featured in various venues, including art markets, art shows on
Vancouver Island, Comox Valley Airport, Campbell River Art Gallery (CRAG), Mush Love Arts
Exhibit in Calgary, Ladysmith Gallery, and various other art galleries across Vancouver Island.
Her work aims to draw attention to the environment and inspire others to protect it. For Anouk,
being in nature is essential—it keeps her grounded, energized, and happy, infusing her art with
a sense of peace and vitality.
Auction item:
Moments Before Twilight (Paradise Meadows) – 48″x48″ – acrylic on canvas – FMV $3,600
Bill Henderson
Kwakwaka’wakw Master Carver Bill Henderson was born in 1950 and is a member of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation in Campbell River, BC. Bill is one of seventeen children born to the artist Sam Henderson and his wife, May Quocksister Henderson. Several of his siblings became artists, including his brothers Ernie, Dan, and Mark. His father Sam was originally from Ba’as (Blunden Harbour), on the north coast, but after marrying May settled in Campbell River. Bill watched his father create carvings and other artworks from a young age and by the age of seven Bill had created his first piece, a small whale plaque for his first-grade teacher.
When Bill reached his teen years he became more serious about his carving and at the age of nineteen he started to sell his work. Since then his skills have grown and he has kept his family’s traditional style of carving. Like his father Sam, Bill works directly on the wood. “I design from my head onto the log and carve.” Bill is also known for mixing his own signature acrylic colours that he uses for his masks, paddles, and carvings. Although Bill Henderson has carved many totem poles over the years, he is happiest working on masks. In 2008, after thirty-one years as a professional carver, Bill Henderson had his first solo exhibition at the Inuit Gallery in Vancouver.
Today Bill Henderson is a very respected Northwest Coast Master Carver that is passing his experience and skill on to the next generation of carvers. His masks, bowls, paddles, and other carvings are collected all over the world. We are very proud to represent Bill Henderson at Spirits of the West Coast Gallery.
Reference: Thom, I. M. (2009). Challenging traditions: contemporary First Nations art of the Northwest Coast. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
Auction item: At’la‘kwis – Hunter of the woods mask – red and yellow cedar – FMV $8,600
Fiasco Glass (Bob McLeod and Shannon Proctor-McLeod)
Bob McLeod is a Campbell River based glass blower who often collaborates with his wife Shannon.
Bob started learning about glass in 2004, and has been playing ever since. Bob has been to Red Deer College’s Summer School for the Arts twice, once on a British Columbia Glass Art Association scholarship.
Shannon started playing with glass around 2006. Before that, she had attended art schools in Victoria and Vancouver, and has worked at the Campbell River Art Gallery as Acting-Curator, Programmer and Preparator.
Along the way we have had the privilege of working with several different glass artists, and have learned much from each of them.
Working out of their own studio, the artists revel in the immediacy of glass: once you start a piece, you have to finish it. There is no stopping for tea, or throwing a damp towel over it to resume another day. It needs to be done now. A stray drop of sweat, an errant breeze, a moment’s inattention while reheating can lead to disastrous results, or floor models, as they are called.
The wall hangings really came together when Shannon became intrigued by the problem of hanging such delicate pieces. Through trial and error, we came up with the system we have now. While Bob makes the individual components, it is her eye and imagination that completes each wall hanging, as she spends hours working on the arrangements and engineering easy reassembly. The wall hangings truly are a collaborative effort.
Auction item: Sirens, Blown glass wall installation – FMV $2,200
David Ellingsen
David Ellingsen is a Canadian photo-based artist making work that speaks to the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world, typically with long-term projects focusing on forests, biodiversity and climate.
Ellingsen descends from a family of immigrants and the first settlers to reside on Cortes Island – the traditional territory of the Klahoose, Tla’amin and Homalco First Nations – in 1887. His work draws upon this family history, one often embedded within British Columbia’s troubled forest industry, and the photographs reflect on the impacts of resource extraction and consumption on the other-than-human inhabitants of past, present, and future eco-systems.
Recent exhibitions include China’s Lishui Museum of Art, the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Lithuania’s Kaunas Photo Festival and Canada’s Campbell River Museum. Ellingsen’s photographs are part of the permanent collections of South Korea’s Datz Museum of Art, China’s Photography Museum of Lishui, and Canada’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum and Royal British Columbia Museum. They have been shortlisted for Photolucida’s Critical Mass Book Award, appeared with National Geographic and Patagonia Books, and awarded First Place at the Prix de la Photographie Paris and the International Photography Awards.
In earlier years Ellingsen was a freelance assignment photographer, eventually working for clients including the New York Times Magazine, Business Development Bank of Canada, Canadian Medical Association, and CBC Radio Canada.
With a place-based practice informed by the landscape of his birth, Ellingsen lives with his husband in the Pacific Northwest in Victoria, British Columbia.
Auction item: Icarus – Chromogenic print – 36″x36″ – Edition of 5. FMV $4250
Dawn Dudek
Born in Winnipeg, Dawn Dudek moved to Toronto where she became a graduate and alumni of the Ontario College of Art. followed by a solo exhibition in Toronto in 1993. The press coverage received for this photographic installation included a live interview with CBC television, and led to a position as Jr. Art Director for MAC cosmetics. Steering her career into the then new area of computer graphics, she joined TOPIX/Mad Dog studio as director of broadcast animation for clients including Paramount Pictures, MTV and General Mills foods; then moved to online media joining Maclaren McCann Interactive (MMI) as an art director creating web content for clients such as Nesquik and General Motors until 2001.
In 2005 Dudek began creating a body of work inspired by her love of cinema and moving images. She exhibited her Filmscapes series at the 63rd FESTIVAL DE CANNES presented by Cannes Cinema , throughout France, Spain, Monaco, Italy and twice at the prestigious Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris: 2008 as an independent and 2009 as part of the Canadian delegation.
Dawn Dudek is represented by Agency Arts, Los Angeles for fine art and illustration and is currently working on her project titled ‘Distance and Displacement’.
In 2020 Dudek was artist in residence at Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia for 6 months, and artist in residence at Sointula Art Shed in BC, Canada for 1 month.
Auction Item: Big Little Worlds: Coccoliths, oil on canvas. 81cm x 60cm FMV $1,700
Gord James
Gordon James received his diploma from the Alberta College of Art in 1976. Since then he and his wife, Martha, have operated James Pottery at their studio overlooking Georgia Strait on Quadra Island. Gordon has exhibited his functional and sculptural ceramics, paintings and prints locally, nationally and internationally.
“In addition to my career as a potter over the past 42+ years, I have maintained an art practice that involves printmaking and painting. My prints are done using various techniques including etching, drypoint, collagraph, monoprint, and silkscreen. My subject matter is focused on abstraction and the human figure.”
Auction item: Thought Emissions, acrylic on board, 2018. 30″ x 24″ FMV $900
James Kwaksistala
James Joseph Kwaksistala is a promising emerging carver, born in 2004, from the Wei Wai Kum Band of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation. In 2022 he began working under the guidance of renowned Wei Wai Kum Master Carver Bill Henderson, as well as Greg and Junior Henderson. He has also worked under the mentorship of Kwakwaka’wakw carver Cole Speck from the Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay, BC.
Auction item: Wooden copper shield with engraved bear design. FMV $4,000
Jessica Chickite
Jessica is a Ligwiłda’xw native artist born in 1982 from the Cape Mudge Band (We Wai Kai). Jessica is the great granddaughter of the late hereditary chief Johnny Chickite, daughter of Max and Barbara Chickite. Jessica currently lives in Campbell River with her fiancé and two children. She has been known to follow in her father’s footsteps since the age of 9, when she won her first native art contest. Jessica utilizes many of the techniques taught by her father, but has grown to develop a unique style of her own.
She uses paper, wood, canvas and deer hide drums as mediums for her art. She does a lot of mural work throughout the community, schools, and had the honor of being chosen to design and paint the front of house design on the mini big house at our local college. Jessica recently has started doing art full time, this has been her dream to be able to create art full time as a living. In 2023 Jessica started working on digital art and designing logos for local businesses. She also gets asked to work within the school district quite often, sharing her art and exposing the children to the First Nations culture. She feels this is very important to do, to keep the culture going for the next generations to come.
Auction item: Dancing in the Sky – 60″ cedar paddle with mother of pearl inlay. FMV $1,250
Karver Everson
Karver Everson was born in Comox, BC in 1993 and named Gayustistalas – a name that
once belonged to his father, Chief Rob Everson of the Gigal’gam Walas Kwagut from
the Kwakwaka’wakw People. Influenced greatly by his family’s connection to their
cultural heritage, Karver has always been eager to learn and uphold the cultural
traditions of both his K’omoks and Kwakwaka’wakw ancestors.
Karver’s passion for art began early in life and First Nations art forms made
appearances in his drawings and pieces throughout his childhood and youth. It was
when Karver decided to further his skills at art school that his First Nations paintings
and drawings flourished.
As an artist in the early stages of his life and career, Karver’s history as a carver is
relatively recent. In the Summer of 2013, Karver’s family was preparing to host a
potlatch, and Karver was called on to create many ceremonial pieces for the family. He’s been carving almost every day since.
Karver has been blessed by the mentors in his life. He has worked under the tutelage of Kwakwaka’wakw master carvers Richard Hunt, Calvin Hunt, Mervyn Child, David Knox and Rande Cook. His uncle, Andy Everson, has also taught him to understand multiple facets of Northwest Coast art including rules of form line and design.
Karver has a Diploma of Fine Arts from North Island College. He recently completed his Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria in 2020. He has recently completed his Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Victoria.
Auction item: Gwa’wina yellow cedar paddle. FMV $1,850
Miss Bumble
Miss Bumble is an Illustrator, Painter, Textile & Felting Artist creating on the unceded territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, in the province known as BC, Canada. The artist takes large inspiration from local mycology (study of mushrooms) as well as west coast natural flora and fauna in her illustrations and fibre works.
Creating works that have a deep representation of 2SLBGTQIA+ people, which the artist is a part of, comes from seeing a lack of representation in the small communities they were living in along the west coast. Her artwork has an air of whimsy but also carries a message of advocacy for underrepresented groups including bodies of all shapes, orientations and abilities. Each artwork has a story that people can connect to, and the artist hopes that some people also see themselves represented in their work.
Auction item: “Peripheral Day Dream” 8.25 x 32 x 14.25” Acrylic on Hardrock Maple Hand Pressed Skateboard deck by Black Cat Skateboardpress, 2024. FMV $650.00
Max Chickite
Max Chickite is a Kwakwaka’wakw artist, born in 1958, and member of the Liǧʷiɫdax̌ʷ Nation from Cape Mudge on Quadra Island, BC. He is the great-grandson of Chief Johnny Chickite. At the age of eleven, Max began drawing, painting, and carving.
In 1994 Max created a Bukwas carving, which won an Award of Excellence in Campbell River, BC and Cumberland, BC. It was then chosen for the poster of the “Images & Objects” Exhibition for the Provincial Exhibition which was held in Campbell River for the BC Festival of the Arts.
In 1997, due to his carving skills, Max was hired by Walt Disney to be a sculptor for the movie “Eaters of the Dead”. That same year, Max was nominated at “Citizen of the Year” in Campbell River. Max enjoys sharing his knowledge of First Nations art by volunteering his time in many of the schools within his community. Max currently divides his time between carving, working on film sets, and commercial fishing.
Auction item: Copper Moon – cedar mask. 18″ FMV $2500.
Nadine Bariteau
Born and raised in Montréal, Nadine Bariteau is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in printmaking, sculpture, installation and video performance. Her works are studies of permanence and ephemerality in the interplay between human-made and natural environments. She is a graduate of Concordia University in Montréal and obtained her Masters of Fine Arts at York University in Toronto. Bariteau has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work can be seen in private and public collections including Foreign Affairs Canada and the National Library of Québec. Nadine has been living in Toronto for the past ten years and teaches printmaking at the Ontario College of Art and Design University.
Auction item: Untitled, Ink on somerset paper. 22″ x 22″ FMV $500
Scott Bertram
Scott Bertram is an abstract painter whose practice centres around ideas of improvisation, finding meaning within unintended stimuli, and playing with the dynamics of perception. He has a BFA from the University of British Columbia Okanagan and an MFA from NSCAD University. He was a semi-finalist in the 12th RBC Canadian Painting Competition and has received many other awards including funding from the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Two Rivers Art Gallery in Prince George, BC; Forest City Gallery in London, ON; and Galerie BAC in Montreal, QC; as well as in group exhibitions at The Power Plant in Toronto, ON; Dalhousie Art Gallery in Halifax, NS; and the Art Gallery of Calgary, among other exhibitions in the USA, Australia, Germany, Mexico, and the UK. Scott Bertram currently lives and works in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.
Auction items:
24-04, acrylic on canvas, 2024. 48″x42″. FMV $4,000
Yakiwidi Shawn Decaire
Shawn Decaire descends from the We Wai Kai tribe of the Liǧʷiɫdax̌ʷ Nation. He is a hereditary chief and cultural leader in Campbell River. In 1999 he lived as a member of the homeless population on the streets of the downtown eastside, after which he went home and began to heal from addiction by learning his cultural ways in art and song. Over the last 20+ years he has learned to carve by hand and chainsaw, make traditional bentwood boxes, design and paint in his cultural way, process animal skins to make traditional leather and hand drums, and harvest and gather traditional foods and barks. All these practices were taught to him by different Kwakwaka’wakw Elders. Shawn Deciare is the current artist in residence at the Walter Morgan Studio.
Auction item: Liǧʷiɫdax̌ʷ Origin Story – Red cedar, yellow cedar, copper, & aluminium lamp, 2024. FMV $5,000
Sonny Assu
Sonny Assu (Ligwiłda’xw of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn’t until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildaʼx̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point of his contemporary art practice.
His practice is diverse, exploring multiple mediums and materials to negotiate Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making. His work often explores his family history as a way to shed light on Canada’s hidden history and treatment of the First People.
Assu received his BFA from Emily Carr University in 2002 and his MFA from Concordia University in 2017. He has been awarded Emily Carr University’s distinguished alumni award (2006); the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations Art (2011) and is a 2017 Laureate for the REVEAL – Indigenous Art Awards.
His work has been accepted into the National Gallery of Canada, Seattle Art Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Burke Museum at the University of Washington, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Hydro Quebec, Lotto Quebec and in various other public and private collections across Canada, the United States and the UK.
He currently resides in unceded Ligwiłda’xw territory (Campbell River, BC).
Auction items: Bird is the word – 12″ Drum – signed original . FMV $2,400
Will Henderson
Kwakwaka’wakw carver William Henderson Jr was born and raised in Campbell River British Columbia. He began carving at the age of 24 and hasn’t looked back since. His role models are his grandfather renowned Master Carver Sam Henderson Sr, who comes from Nakwa’dakw Blunden Harbour. His father Renowned Master Carver Bill Henderson and his older cousin Junior Henderson.
In the past few years William has started creating pieces for use during traditional potlatch ceremonies. William enjoys carving and watching his carvings come alive through song and dance and he will continue on making more ceremonial pieces for all the people of the potlatch world.
William was initiated through his father Bill into the sacred Hamatsa society when he was 27 years old. William actively participates in feats and potlatches that are hosted by his family, and is frequently invited to help other families. William helps keep the culture alive through dance, singing on the log, being an attendant at potlatches or rigging up masks for dancers. William puts his heart into keeping his culture alive.
Following his fathers footsteps of always giving back and keeping the culture alive William enjoys teaching the local kids in the community how to sing and dance. He volunteers every week at the local preschool to help lead the kids in song and dance in preparation of their yearly performances. He also frequents his own children’s classrooms to show them masks or to teach them new and old traditional songs. William enjoys telling stories through his skills as a carver and he will continue to follow his heart and carve.
Auction items: Max’inux paddle, yellow cedar with abalone inlay, 60″. FMV $4,000
Perrin Sparks
“My 25-year career producing and teaching surgical illustration has provided me with an exposure to human anatomy and classical drawing techniques and the discipline necessary to sustain a commercial art profession. I have a Liberal Arts Bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in Art as Applied to Medicine from the Johns Hopkins University Medical School. Serving as a medical illustrator at Stanford Medical School in California, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and finally as Director of Medical Illustration Services at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, led to a position as Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Graduate Program at UT Southwestern.
I am currently a Signature Member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, and a Fellow and former President with the Association of Medical Illustrators. My DVDs in pastel and oil portraiture were featured in the North Light Book Club and excerpts can be seen on YouTube: “Steps to a Likeness: Pastel Portraits” and “Steps to a likeness: Oil Portraits”. By 2016, my YouTube channel for the oil portrait video had received over 1,000,000 views, and now both videos are available as *downloads on Vimeo. American Artist, International Artist, The Best of Portraiture, and The Pastel Journal have all showcased my work and I was commissioned by Prismacolor to undertake testing materials and producing a portrait for the marketing and packaging of a new line of soft pastels.”
Auction Item: Hare today, Gone tomorrow, 8” x 8”, Intaglio etching. FMV $300
Cole Speck
Kwakwaka’wakw artist Cole Speck was born in 1991 and raised on the ‘Namgis reserve in Alert Bay that has produced many talented Kwakwaka’wakw artists. He descends from the late Chief John Speck of the Tlowitsis, father of the late Henry Speck Sr., and is also a great-grandson of the late Harry Hanuse of Mamalalaka.
Cole Speck apprenticed under renowned master carver Wayne Alfred and was also mentored by, and a senior apprentice to the late Beau Dick, celebrated artist, activist, and master carver. Cole assisted Beau Dick in carving the Pat Alfred Memorial Pole in 2010 and more recently, Speck’s ‘Beaver in a Hudson Bay Bag’ (2019) debuted at White Columns, New York as part of Beau Dick’s traveling solo exhibition Devoured by Consumerism.
Cole Speck has also had his work featured in Vancouver at the RezErect exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery in 2013, and at the Museum of Anthropology’s Claiming Space exhibition in 2014.
Auction Item: YolaKwame. FMV $6,000.00