The luscious watercolor illustrations in War of the Blink, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas's new graphic novel, convey a story that was told by the Haida people "long before there was a Canada or a United States."

An artist from Haida Gwaii is getting high-profile international attention with works on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the British Museum in London. While being featured in those institutions is a major accomplishment for any artist, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas says it signifies that First Nations art is increasingly entering the mainstream art world.

A work by a Canadian Haida artist has been installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in a location where contemporary art borders Indigenous art, and the curator who orchestrated its installation is thrilled about it. Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas's Yelthadaas, recently acquired by the Met, hangs in Gallery 399, at the intersection of two worlds.

Visitors to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art can now expect to spot a work by B.C.'s own Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas in Gallery 399. The museum announced today that the Haida artist's piece "Yelthadaas" is on display in the museum's permanent collection.

Old roots grow new branches. The ancient aboriginal art of Canada's west coast is one of the definitive features of our national culture, and bright in that collection is Haida art.

It’s a set of awards quite unlike any seen before in Canada, both in scale and scope. The winners of the REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards have been announced, with 150 artists each receiving $10,000—for a total of $1.5 million in cash awards disbursed. The aim of this one-time-only REVEAL prize? To “fuel Indigenous arts practice for the next 150 years,” says the Hnatyshyn Foundation. Practitioners in a wide range of art forms are being honoured, including visual artists, media artists, craftspeople, musicians, writers, storytellers, dancers and actors.

At the recent opening of his exhibition The Seriousness of Play, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas spoke eloquently to a packed room. Surrounded by his paintings, prints, and sculptures, he talked about the spaces that exist within and between art forms—and within and between cultures. He also touched on a contemporary problem for artists of indigenous descent: is this work art or ethnicity? The question, he said, had originally been posed to him by Bill Reid, who shared with Yahgulanaas mixed Haida and European heritage, but whose acclaim was focused entirely on his Haida-identified art-making.

Being an effective trickster takes more than irreverence to pull off. To do it well enough so you're not simply offending people, it means knowing and respecting the tradition you're working in. The trickster artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas works in old Haida visual and narrative traditions that he reframes in a contemporary way.

SEI is an equally stunning stainless steel sculpture that recalls the arc of a jumping salmon in the nearby McArthur Glen Designer Outlet. YVR's public collection of art - which includes Bill Reid's The Spirit of Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe - is one of the reasons it consistently ranks among the top airports in the world.

Yahgulanaas’s work emblemizes different cultures joining, rather than clashing. He is always mindful of art as an active participant in a larger discussion, and always vigilant, even though his work is overwhelmingly playful and positive.

Visitors to Vancouver Airport's new luxury mall will be greeted by a 3,855 kilogram steel sculpture called SEI. The public art installation by acclaimed visual artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is his largest work yet and one of his favourites. "Sometimes when I walk away from a project I'm never quite sure. I'm always thinking I could have done things differently. This one is a slam dunk," Yahgulanaas told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

Artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas has designed a new stainless steel sculpture that recalls natural forms such as the curve of a jumping whale or salmon. The public art work is made from highly polished stainless steel. In contrast to those reflective surfaces is the underside of the 12-metre long sculpture which is covered in copper leaf. “Yes, it’s like a whale jumping or a salmon jumping,” Yahgulanaas said in a phone interview.

Stories about whales are generally epic, and this one, which starts with a napkin sketch and ends with the 5,500-kilogram creature making an overland voyage to the West Coast, is no exception. The whale in this case is a steel, copper-bellied piece of public art currently being installed outside the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Vancouver Airport following a four-month gestation period in a southeast Calgary industrial park.

You might not know his name, but if you've ever driven down Knight Street or passed by UBC's Thunderbird Winter Sports Arena, you've definitely seen his work. Contemporary artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas' latest piece, SEI, won't be unveiled until later this summer, but the Georgia Straight was invited to see the piece just as the finishing touches were being made.

To complement this big show, Brotherton has organized a smaller but still potent exhibition of Northwest Coast art drawn from local private collections. In addition to some exquisite old pieces in stone, silver and wood, there are contemporary contributions. A standout is “Red” by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, a mural comprised of individual watercolors done in a powerful, graphic blend of Haida style and Japanese manga.

A sculpture by artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas for Kamloops that recreates the moment before the North and South Thompson join and become the single Thompson River was put together and raised for the first time Wednesday at a metal fabricating plant in Delta. Called Rivers, the soaring steel and aluminum sculpture is more than 10 metres tall. At the top, representing the two arms of the river, are stylized female swimmers in copper leaf.

One of the city’s newest public art works is a 43-metre-long steel sculpture inspired by the record-setting 2010 Fraser River Salmon run. Abundance Fenced is located at Knight Street and 33rd Avenue along the top of a concrete retaining wall beside Kensington Park. It serves as a decorative railing beside the pedestrian path.

Take Off is the first time Haida manga has been turned into public, outdoor art. It is anchored to the ground by three steel pipes that arc to the west. They’re meant to mimic the motion of a mallard duck that quickly lifts up from the water as it takes flight. The birdlike part of the sculpture is made from recycled Volvo fenders and door with the profile of a hockey player painted in black acrylic in Haida-manga style.