Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art is a progressive art school

Art school

Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...

 focusing on the "Northern Style" of the Northwest Coast Art

Northwest Coast art

Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and other First Nations and Native American tribes of the Northwest Coast of North America, from pre-European-contact times up to the...

. The school is located on the Northwest Community College

Northwest Community College

Northwest Community College is a post-secondary educational institution that serves the residents of northwest British Columbia. NWCC was first established in Terrace in 1975..-Campus:...

 Campus in Terrace, BC

Terrace, British Columbia

Terrace is a city on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada. The Kitselas people, a tribe of the Tsimshian Nation, have lived in the Terrace area for thousands of years. The community population fell between 2001 and 2006 from 12,109 with a regional population of 19,980 to 11,320 and...

; Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. This school is unique because it is a university credit program, recognized by Emily Carr University, that focuses on First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

 art and culture in a context where the culture and people who originated it live today.

Named after the Haida artist and carver Freda Diesing

Freda Diesing

Freda Diesing was one of very few female carvers of Northwest Coast totem poles and a member of the Haida First Nation of British Columbia, Canada....

, the school was started in the Fall of 2006 by one of Freda's students, Dempsey Bob

Dempsey Bob

Dempsey Bob is a Northwest Coast carver from British Columbia, Canada, who is of Tahltan and Tlingit First Nations descent. He was born in the Tahltan village of Telegraph Creek on the Stikine River in northwestern B.C., and is of the Wolf clan....

, and two of his nephews, Ken McNeil and Stan Bevan.

Although there are various courses in the school curriculum, the school focuses on carving

Carving

- Arts :*Bone carving*Chip carving*Gourd carving or Gourd art*Ice carving or Ice sculpture*Ivory carving*Stone carving**Petroglyph*Vegetable carving*Wood carving- Others :*Data carving and/or file carving, two closely related data recovery techniques...

 in the Northern Style, with drawing

Drawing

Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...

, painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, art history

Art history

Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...

 and toolmaking

Toolmaking

The term toolmaking may refer to:* The act of making tools of any kind, from the simplest handtools made of plant fiber or stone, to the most technologically advanced tools. This form of toolmaking is a topic of interest in anthropology. Some non-human animal species also use tools.* Tool and die...

 courses supporting the carving component of the school.

The school frequently invites guest speakers for presentations to the class. These speakers include Robert Davidson

Robert Davidson

Robert Davidson was a Scottish inventor who built the first known electric locomotive in 1837.Born and died in Aberdeen, northeast Scotland, where he was a prosperous chemist and dyer, amongst other ventures...

, Roy Henry Vickers

Roy Henry Vickers

This page is about the Canadian artist, for the English mystery writer go to Roy VickersRoy Henry Vickers, CM, OBC is a Canadian First Nations artist...

, Keith Smartch, Bill McLennan

Bill McLennan

William Patrick McLennan is an Australian statistician who was Director of the Central Statistical Office of the United Kingdom and Australian Statistician.-Early years:...

, Greg Schauff, and representatives from the Royal BC Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization

Canadian Museum of Civilization

The Canadian Museum of Civilization is Canada's national museum of human history and the most popular and most-visited museum in Canada....

 and other institutions representing the arts and culture in the Northwest Coast.

The school can accept about 20 students in an academic year and, as of September 2010, the school has had 31 graduates.

External links

• Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art Website