April White

April White or SGaana Jaad (Killer Whale Woman) was born on Haida Gwaii and belongs to the Dadens Yahgu’jaanaas Raven clan. She is a descendant of and related to, a long line of highly respected and very collectable Haida Master Carvers including Charles Edenshaw, Bill Reid, her brother Darrel White, and her cousins Christian White, Derek White and Jim Hart.

Early in her career, during university and after graduating in Geology from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, she honed her painting skill and refined her abilities. April realized, after a few years in the bush, that she was inexplicably possessed by painting---particularly in watercolours. It took a while until April fully recognized how strong its pull might be. In the eighties, she made the decision to put down her rock pick and hand lens, and pick up her paint brushes for good.

Since then her career has taken her all over North America, particularly to the globally famous juried shows and Indian Markets in Santa Fe, Portland, Scottsdale and Phoenix. Almost every year she has entered and won awards in these most prestigious shows and festivals.

Every salmon sport fishing enthusiast in British Columbia possesses—knowingly or unknowingly—a piece of art by April White, for every salmon license in the province carries a stamp designed by this talented Haida artist. The Pacific Salmon Foundation Salmon chose her design “Salmon Tale” for their 2015/16. This became the first and only time in 25 years that an aboriginal person was so honoured.

Today April lives and works both in Powell River as well as on Haida Gwaii.