Neel, Ellen
Ellen Neel (1916–1966) was a Kwakwakaʼwakw artist woodcarver and is the first woman known to have professionally carved totem poles.
Ellen May Neel (Kakaso'las/"People Who Come to Seek Her Advice") was born 1916 in Alert Bay; BC just off northern Vancouver Island’s inside passage.
She was a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribe. Neel learned Northwest carving from her maternal grandfather, Charlie James (Yakuglas) a noted totem carver and from her uncle, the famed sculptor Mungo Martin.
In 1938 Neel married Ted Neel and they moved to Vancouver and together they had seven children. The family worked together to survive in the big city until Ellen completed the Totemland Pole for the Totemland Society which served as a financial breakthrough. Also, as a speaker in 1948 at the Conference on Native Indian Affairs, Neel furthered her career and became an established artist. After the conference the Parks Board gave her a studio in Stanley Park where she established Totem Art Studios. Neel was able to work on large projects such as a pole commissioned in 1953 for a museum in Denmark.
In 2017, Neel's work was shown in an individual exhibition at the University of Victoria's Legacy Art Gallery. Her work “Cedar Mask” was exhibited with the Hearts of Our People exhibition of Native women artists at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2019.
By 1961 Ted and Ellen were consistently dealing with health problems. Ellen passed away in February 3, 1966.