Alano Edzerza

Alano Edzerza belongs to the Raven clan of the Tahltan Nation in the Stikine District in Northwestern British Columbia.

Born in Victoria in 1981, he has been an artist since he could hold a pencil; and received his first recognition of merit at age thirteen with a sculpture award from the Victoria School Board. This early talent developed rapidly into a professional career with international gallery and museum shows.

Alano began working in Northwest Coast art under the tutelage of his family member, fellow Tahltan artist, Terrence Campbell. In 2002, Alano furthered his education by attending school in Arizona for jewellery-making under the instruction of Rick Charlie learning casting and engraving. When he returned to Canada at twenty-one, he continued jewellery-making, working with his cousin and studying the work of artists such as Bill Reid, Dempsey Bob, Dale Campbell and Stan Bevan, and reading about and studying Tsimshian style. Since then, he has also had the opportunity to work with artists Jay Simeon, Marcel Russ, Philip Grey, Corey Bulpitt and Rick Adkins.

Today Alano is a Tahltan multimedia artist and entrepreneur based in West Vancouver, British Columbia. He has had numerous group shows and solo shows in Canada and abroad and is one of the key artists in the contemporary Northwest Coast Art movement.

Reference: Thom, I. M. (2009). Challenging traditions: contemporary First Nations art of the Northwest Coast. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.