I love the art created by native artists from the area I grew up in. One of the highly recognized artists from British Columbia is the Haida artist Bill Reid. An extremely skilled artist who worked on wood carvings, totems, boxes, jewelry, prints, drawings, paintings, gold, silver, bronze , canoes and many other mediums. His largest and most widely seen work is the “Spirit of Haida Gwaii“, a large bronze black sculpture that was originally commissioned for the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC. A version in jade greats international visitors to the Vancouver International Airport. This work is also featured on the back of the Canadian $20 dollar bill.
During a visit to Vancouver this fall I visited the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia at visited the Bill Reid Rotunda. The center piece of that exhibit is a beautiful wood carving of “The Raven and the First Man” as shown in this series of images.
The sculpture is sitting in a sea of sand and the lines and curves on the carving are truly stunning. The area is surrounding the carving is dark with lighting just on the exhibits. There is bench seating surrounding it where one can sit quietly and contemplate the serenity of the work.
Like the Spirit of Haida Gwaii, an image of The Raven and The First Men also can be found on the back of the Canadian $20 bill.