BILL REID

• Born: on January 12, 1920
• Died: march 13, 1998
• Education: ryerson university

BILL REID FAMILY

• Father William Roland Reid
• Mother Sophie Gladstone Reid
• Mother was from the raven claw clan
• Sr. of Scottish-German descent

KEEN INTEREST

• developed a keen interest in Haida art while working as a radio announcer in Toronto for CBC Radio,
• where he also studied jewelry making at the Ryerson Institute of Technology

SKIDEGATE POLE

• Bill Reid carving Skidegate pole Skidegate, Haida Gwaii 1976 Photo: Dr. Martine Reid
• Reid is generally described as a Native Canadian artist, and more specifically, a Haida artist.
• What does that really mean? How can we define a Haida artist?
• Is it an artist who has Haida ancestry, or an artist who makes Haida art?
• Bill Reid was both types of artist.

SOPHIE MOTHER OF BILL REID

• Sophie’s mother originated from the village of Tanu, on Tanu Island,
• in the southern part of the Haida Gwaii archipelago.
• born in the village of what was then called Skidegate Mission in Haida Gwaii.
• At the age of 10, she was sent as a year-round student to an Anglican residential school
• she was forbidden to speak her Haida mother tongue,

GOLD BRACELET

• Gold Bracelet Wolf and Raven Design
• 1969
• 22k gold, repoussé, engraved, textured 5.87 x 6.35 x 5.24 cm
• Courtesy of Seattle Art Museum

PROTEST AT LYELL

• at Lyell Island logging protest, wearing his pendant with his Wolf crest

Wolf Pendant

Wolf Pendant

• 1977
• Yew wood, haliotis shell, paint, copper tubing, gold, leather thong
• 8.3 cm H x 7.1 cm W
• Collection of the UBC Museum of Anthropology,
• Vancouver, Canada

SISTER PEGGY

• Bill Reid and sister Peggy as young children
• Victoria, BC c. 1924 Courtesy Bill Reid Estate

BILL REID’S FATHER, WILLIAM RONALD REID,

• ran hotels in Smithers in northern BC,
• His father and mother separated
• Bill Reid didn't see his father until he was 14

BILL AS A YONG CHILD

• the age 12, out of boredom in school, he started to carve tiny objects out of blackboard chalk
• such as totem poles, boats, and a tea set.
• These first carvings were the result of intense concentration,
• and showed his taste for miniatures and accuracy detail as well his sense of humour

Miniature Tea Set

• 1932
• 2.2 cm W, creamer jug 0.7 x 1.1 cm, sugar bowl 0.7 x 1 cm handle to handle, 0.3 cm diameter
• Blackboard chalk, nail polish teapot with lid

BILL REID YONG MAN

• left school after completing one year at Victoria College.
• with a beautiful voice, he began working without pay as a radio announcer in BC
• and soon took a paid position in Kelowna, BC, followed by Kirkland Lake
• A year after his father’s death, Bill Reid made his first visit to Haida Gwaii since his early childhood
• He was reunited with his Haida maternal grandfather, Charles Gladstone

Bill Reid and Doug Cranmer

• carving the frontal board of a Haida Mortuary Pole
• In 1962, with Kwakwaka’wakw assistant Douglas Cranmer,
• They completed two houses and seven poles for the Haida village
• During this time, he was briefly married to his second wife, Ella Gunn.

Dogfish Mortuary Pole

• Carved with assistant Doug Cranmer (Kwakwaka’wakw)
• Totem Park, UBC, Vancouver, BC 1961

Carved Cedar Screen

• Also known as "The Farewell Screen"
• 1968
• Red cedar, laminated, carved on both sides
• 2.1 m x 1.9 m x 14.6 cm
• Design of intertwined figures

Untitled Slide

• Bill Reid with the "Master of the Black Field No.1," 1967
• Work shown: Bentwood box (“Master of the Black Field No.1”)
• Artist unknown c. 1865?
• Bought by George Emmons on the Chilkat River, Alaska, in the 1880s
• Red cedar, polychrome 45 x 35 x 36 cm

"Mythic Messengers"

• 1984 Bronze frieze 8.5 m x 1.2 m x 45.7 cm
• He completed the large yellow cedar sculpture
• for the UBC Museum of Anthropology,
• based on the small boxwood carving he made in Montreal in 1970.

T'AA" (HAIDA CANOE),

• CARVED BY GUUJAAW AND HIS SON JAALEN EDENSHAW
• Skidegate, Haida Gwaii 2008
• Courtesy of Guujaaw Courtesy Haida Heritage Centre, Kaay Llnagaay

THE SPIRIT OF THE HAIDA GWAI

• Art peace by Bill Reid
• Modern international Adair ports
• As a gateways to there respective countries
• Victoriadailyphoto.blogspot.ca

Untitled Slide

THE RAVEN AND THE FIRST MEN

• Art peace by bill Reid
• In Vancouver British Columbia
• www.blackburnathistory.blogspot.ca

Untitled Slide

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• www.billreidgallery.ca
• Wicikipitea
• www.blackburnathistory.blogspot.ca
• Victoriadailyphoto.blogspot.ca
• http://theravenscall.ca/en/who/life_story