Lou-ann Neel descends from a rich history of artists on both sides of her family. She comes from the Mamalilikulla, Ma’amtagila, and Da’naxda’xw on her mother’s side of the family and ‘Namgis, Kwickwasutaineuk, and Kwagiulth on her father’s side of the family.
Lou-ann has been practicing in Kwakwaka’wakw design for over forty years in various forms – jewellery, textiles and hides, paintings and prints, and vector designing in multiple applications including animation, storybook illustration and 3D printing.
In addition to her artistic practice, Lou-ann is a community arts’ advocate – always seeking to build solutions that will enable Indigenous artists to balance their respective rights, responsibilities and obligations with new, contemporary expressions of their work. Lou-ann serves as Curator, Indigenous Collections, and Acting Head of Indigenous Collections and Repatriation Department at the Royal BC Museum working closely with BC First Nations communities to address repatriation matters.
