Bill Reid-Canadian Artistic Genius

Jade Canoe-Bronze Sculpture
by Bill Reid 1920-1998
photo (c) Terry Krysak

Bill Reid another of My Favorite Artists was a Canadian artist whose father was of European descent, and his mother was a First Nations Haida aboriginal. Reid was profoundly influenced by his paternal grandfather Charles Edenshaw, a renowned Haida artist carver.

Reid became interested in Haida art while he was a radio announcer in Toronto, and studying jewelry making. In 1951 he returned to Vancouver, and began studying the work of Edenshaw, as well as visiting the remains of Haida villages on the Queen Charlotte Islands, and ultimately was responsible for helping to put together a small replica of a Haida village located in the UBC Museum of Anthropology.

The Jade Canoe as shown above (located at Vancouver International Airport) is a representation of an ancient Haida dugout canoe, bearing thirteen supernatural creatures, each in some way related to the Haida's mythical past. For many centuries the Haida people lived in a rich fulfilled existence, nourished by the wealth of their homeland, and watched over by the gods and demigods who peopled their world.

Raven And The First Men
by Bill Reid
Cedar Sculpture

I have always been fascinated by the art of the Haida, and Bill Reid has succeeded in taking this art form to an entirely new level by taking classical Haida imagery, and transforming and morphing it into three dimensional sculptures that would be the envy of many famous sculptors. His use of cedar, and eventually bronze has proven to be an enormous achievement, and has left us with many fantastic works of art that grace our communities for all to see.

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Eye Of The Totem-Watercolor Painting After The Photograph By Flickr Photographer Tim Ennis

7" x 7"
Watercolor on Watercolor Board
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I have always been fascinated with Totem Poles, particularly the work of the Haida Aboriginals, located on the West Coast of Canada in British Columbia.

I often wished however that they painted their Totem Poles in colors that were more pleasing to me than the standard colors of Black, Green, Red, and White. This was my attempt to produce a design that contained colors that reflect more of a West Coast feel to them, reflecting the mood of blue water, with a teal accent.

I also imagined that each Totem was a living work of art, and in my imagination what you see in the painting is the reflection of what the Totem is seeing in the reflection in it's eye. The reflection is a lonely Arbutus tree hanging on to the rock above a seascape.

This is a derivative work, and permission to use the original photograph Wuikinuxv Eye was kindly granted by brilliant Flickr Photographer Tim Ennis.

I use Winsor & Newton Watercolors exclusively