WWU to Host Internationally-Acclaimed Haida Artist Michael N. Yahgulanaas March 4

The Western Washington University Department of Art will host internationally-acclaimed Haida manga artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (“mny") in the final installment of a lecture series discussing historical and contemporary Northwest artistic practices at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, in Miller Hall 138 on Western’s campus.

The lecture, titled “What if There is No Plan?” is free and open to the public.

Yahgulanaas gained fame as an artist after many decades working in the Haida Nation’s successful campaign to protect its biocultural diversity. He is known for the innovative form “Haida Manga,” which blends North Pacific Indigenous iconographies and framelines with the graphic dynamism of Asian manga.

Yahgulanaas’ visual practice encompasses a variety of different art forms including: large-scale public art projects, mixed media sculptures and canvases, re-purposed automobile parts, acrylics, watercolours, ink drawings, and illustrated publications, including: A Tale of Two Shamans (2001), the internationally awarded Flight of the Hummingbird (2008), RED, a  Haida Manga (2009), and Old Growth (2012). He is also the illustrator of David Suzuki's The Declaration of Interdependence: A Pledge to Planet Earth.

His work is displayed in the British Museum (London, England), Seattle Art Museum, the Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, Canada), the Glenbow Museum (Calgary, Canada) and the Museum of Anthropology (Vancouver, Canada). His large sculptural works are part of the public art collection of the City of Vancouver in Canada. In 2011 and 2012, Yahgulanaas was the Audain Professor in Contemporary Arts of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Victoria.

Free parking is available in the “C” lots at the south end of campus after 4:30 p.m. For more information, or for disability accommodations, please contact Julia Sapin at (360) 650-3670.