VANCOUVER, BC, June 21, 2008 - Just released, Breathing Stone: Contemporary Argillite Sculpture, presents a diverse and contemporary collection of newly emerging argillite carvers from Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii).

Illustrated by more than 100 colour images, the personal portraits of 15 sculptors and their works are published for the first time. Taken in the artists' workshops, galleries, collectors' homes and onsite in Haida Gwaii, these images demonstrate as never seen before the power and richness of the precious Argillite art form.

These intimate encounters offer a rare glimpse into the realm of artisans' lives as they share thought-provoking stories of their cultural identities, aesthetic sensibilities and their place in the world.

Haida artists represented by Coastal Peoples, such as Darrell White, Marcel Russ, Lionel Samuels and Gary Minaker Russ, are featured in Breathing Stone. From the gallery's own collection of over 40 Argillite sculptures are several pieces chosen especially by the author for this publication.

Renowned for their Argillite sculptures, the Haida people began carving this protected stone in response to the early curio trade of the 1820s and it has become one of the longest creative traditions in Canadian art.

Today, awareness of the progression of Argillite carving has become recognized on a global scale and demand has increased for these sophisticated and complex creations.

Author Carol Sheehan is considered a recognized authority on Argillite sculpture and her new book is "the culmination of careful research and extensive dialogues. This truly is art presented in its most human, meaningful form."