Emily Carr University Awards Two Honorary Doctorates
Emily Carr University is awarding honorary doctorates to Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun, an important artist of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent, and Terry Irwin, head of the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University.
As well, Vancouver Island artist and activist Marianne Nicolson will receive the university's Emily Award, which honours outstanding achievements by university alumni.
The ceremony will take place on May 4.
Gillian Siddall, the university's president, described the three as “provocative leaders" in their respective fields, saying they have made "a bold and lasting impact on creative practice and cultural engagement."
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun in his studio (photo by Ken Mayer)
Yuxweluptun, a painter, sculptor, virtual reality and performance artist, has spent three decades exploring issues of colonization, politics and the environment. He graduated from Emily Carr University in 1983. His work has been displayed in many institutions, including the National Gallery of Canada and the UBC Museum of Anthropology.
Irwin, an accomplished designer, has been teaching at the university level since 1986. At Carnegie Mellon she led a process to place design for society and the environment at the heart of all teaching.
Nicolson, a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation, is an internationally exhibited artist and outspoken advocate for Indigenous land rights. She explores traditional Northwest Coast artistic expressions through contemporary media and has shown her work at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.
