William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

artist whose works include

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

screen-printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh ...

, and

paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is regarded as one of the most significant Northwest Coast artists of the late twentieth century. He was a matrilineal descendant of K'aadaas Gaa K'iigawaay, who belong to K_ayx_al, the Raven matrilineages of the Haida Nation. This matrilineage traces its origins to T'aanuu Llnagaay. His names are Iihljiwaas (Princely One), Kihlguulins (One Who Speaks Well), and Yaahl SG_waansing (Solitary Raven). Some of his major works were featured on the Canadian $20 banknote of the Canadian Journey series (2004–2012).

Biography

Early years

William Ronald Reid Jr., was born in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

; his father was American William Ronald Reid Sr., of Scottish-German descent and his mother, Sophie Gladstone Reid, was from the Kaadaas gaah Kiiguwaay, Raven/Wolf

Clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

of T'anuu, more commonly known as the Haida, one of the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

of the Pacific coast. However, Reid was raised without knowledge of his Haida heritage due to the oppressive measures of the

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...

. When Reid was in his early twenties, he visited his ancestral home of

Skidegate Skidegate ( hai, Hlg̱aagilda) is a Haida community in in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southeast coast of Graham Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and is approximately west of mainland British Columbia across Hec ...

for the first time since he was an infant. He desired to connect with his relatives and his Indigenous identity, later commenting that "in turning to his ancestors, in reclaiming his heritage for himself, he was . . . looking for an identity which he had not found in modern western society." In Skidegate Reid spent time with his maternal grandfather, Charles Gladstone, a traditional Haida silversmith. Gladstone first taught Reid about Haida art, and through him, Bill inherited his tools from his great-great-uncle

Charles Edenshaw Charles Edenshaw (–1920) was a Haida artist"Master Artists: Charles Edensha ...

, a renowned artist who died the year Reid was born. In 1944, Reid married his first wife, Mabel van Boyen. In 1948, the couple moved to Toronto, where Reid further developed his keen interest in Haida art while working as a radio announcer for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

and studying jewelry making at the

Ryerson Institute of Technology Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

. During his spare time, he made regular trips to the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

and admired the carved Haida pole installed in the main stairwell, which originated from his grandmother's village of T'aanuu. Upon completing his studies, Reid made his first Haida-inspired piece of jewelry, a bracelet resembling the ones he saw his maternal aunt wear when he was a child. In 1951, Reid returned to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, where he eventually established a studio on

Granville Island Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in the Fairview, Vancouver, Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver under the south end of the Granville Street ...

. He became greatly interested in the works of Edenshaw, working to understand the

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sym ...

of his work, much of which had been lost along with many Haida traditions. During this time Reid also worked on salvaging artifacts, including many intricately carved

totem pole Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually ...

s, which were then moldering in abandoned village sites. He assisted in the partial reconstruction of a Haida village in the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology (MOA). In 1986, Reid's work was featured in an exhibit at the MOA,
Beyond the Essential Form
' curated by William McClennan. The exhibit catalog was later published by the University of British Columbia Press as
Bill Reid: Beyond the Essential Form
' by Karen Duffek, Curator: Contemporary Visual Arts & Pacific Northwest. Working in the traditional forms and modern media (usually

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

and

argillite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts ...

), Reid began by making jewellery. He gradually explored larger sculptures in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

, red cedar and

Nootka Cypress ''Callitropsis nootkatensis'', formerly known as ''Cupressus nootkatensis'' ( syn. ''Xanthocyparis nootkatensis'') is a species of trees in the cypress family native to the coastal regions of northwestern North America. This species goes by many ...

(yellow cedar), usually portraying figures, animals, and scenes from

Haida mythology The Haida are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their national territories lie along the west coast of Canada and include parts of south east Alaska. Haida mythology is an indigenous religion that c ...

. He intended to express his ancestors' visual traditions into a contemporary form.

Major works and awards

Reid's most popular works are three large bronze sculptures. Two depict a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

filled with human and animal figures: one black, ''The

Spirit of Haida Gwaii The ''Spirit of Haida Gwaii'' is a sculpture by British Columbia Haida artist Bill Reid (1920–1998). There are two versions of it: the black canoe and the jade canoe. The black canoe features on Canadian $20 bills of the Canadian Journey serie ...

'', is at the Canadian Embassy, Washington, D.C., in the United States; and one green, ''The Jade Canoe'', is at

Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busie ...

, in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The third sculpture, ''Chief of the Undersea World'', depicts a breaching

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

and is installed at the

Vancouver Aquarium The Vancouver Aquarium is a public aquarium located in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In addition to being a major tourist attraction for Vancouver, the aquarium is a centre for marine research, ocean literacy education, cl ...

. Plaster casts of these sculptures are held by the

Canadian Museum of History The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage ...

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

, Canada. His 1965 painting ''Smallpox'' is exhibited at the ''

.'' Reid's '' Raven and the First Men'' carving based on the Haida legend was unveiled at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology (MOA) in April 1986. In 1975, a dialog between Reid and art historian, Bill Holm in conjunction with a Northwest Coast Indian art exhibition, organized by the Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Houston was published as ''Form and Freedom: A Dialogue on Northwest Coast Indian Art'.''

Legacy and honours

Reid received many honours in his life, including honorary degrees from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

, the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, and

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

. He received the

National Aboriginal Achievement Award The Indspire Awards, until 2012 the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, are annual awards presented by Indspire in Canada. The awards are intended to celebrate and encourage excellence in the Aboriginal community. About The awards were fi ...

, the Indspire Awards, for Lifetime Achievement in 1994, and was made a member of the

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia (french: Ordre de la Colombie-Britannique) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier ...

and an Officer of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Order of Arts and Letters The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

. He was made a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

. On 30 April 1996 Canada Post issued 'The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, 1986-1991, Bill Reid' in the Masterpieces of Canadian art series. The stamp was designed by

Pierre-Yves Pelletier Pierre-Yves Pelletier is a graphic designer, who has designed 110 stamps for Canada Post. Pierre-Yves Pelletier is half French Canadian. He lives in Belœil, Quebec Beloeil (; ) is city in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal, on the So ...

based on the sculpture ''The Spirit of Haida Gwaii'' (1991) by William Ronald Reid in the Canadian Embassy, Washington, United States. The 90¢ stamps are perforated 12.5 x 13 and were printed by Ashton-Potter Limited. Two of his sculptures, ''

The Raven and the First Men ''The Raven and the First Men'' is a sculpture by Haida artist Bill Reid. It depicts the Haida creation myth. It was carved from a single block of laminated yellow cedar, beginning in the fall of 1978, and took two years to complete, with work com ...

'' and ''

'', are prominently featured on the $20 note in the

Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; french: Banque du Canada) is a Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surveys: Ca ...

's new ''Canadian Journey'' (2004) issue, paired with a quotation from author

Gabrielle Roy Gabrielle Roy (March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature. Early life Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, and ...

. He was the subject of

Alanis Obomsawin Alanis Obomsawin, (born August 31, 1932) is an Abenaki American Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has wri ...

's 2022 documentary film '' Bill Reid Remembers''."Hot Docs 2022 , Deux courts films de l’ONF sur des destins hors du commun"
''CTVM'', March 31, 2022.

Later years

Reid participated in the blockades of logging roads which helped save the rain forests of Gwaii Haanas (South Moresby). He stopped work on the sculpture in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

during this period to protest the destruction of the forests of

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...

. At the time Bill Reid was alive the archipelago was called the Queen Charlotte Islands. In 1981, he married Martine de Widerspach-Thor (Mormanne), a French anthropologist. Having dedicated the later part of his life to the creation of new works and these tasks of curation, Reid died on 13 March 1998, of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, in Vancouver. In July 1998 friends and relatives paddled Lootaas, a large cedar canoe carved by Reid for

Expo 86 The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communicatio ...

, on a two-day journey along the Pacific coast to bring his ashes to Tanu Island in

, the site of his mother's village of New Clew.

Gallery

File:Fish aquarium Van.JPG, ''Chief of the Undersea World'',

File:Raven and the First Men, left side.jpg, ''

'', UBC Museum of Anthropology. It depicts part of a Haida

creation myth A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...

. The Raven represents the

Trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

figure common to many mythologies. File:Bear Mother.jpg, ''Bear Mother'',

Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat The Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is representational office of the Ismaili Imamat in Canada and includes the headquarters of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada. It is located between the Embassy of Saudi Arabia and the ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

File:Bill Reid Haida Gail 01.jpg, ''The Spirit of Haida Gwaii (The Black Canoe)'', Canadian Embassy, Washington, D.C., USA Haida bear figure (UBC-2010).jpg, ''Bear'',

UBC Museum of Anthropology The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is renowned for its displays of world arts and cultures, in particular works by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest. As well as ...

References

External links

Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work
by Gerald McMaster, published by the Art Canada Institute
Article on Bill Reid (2019)Douglas Reynolds Gallery (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)"Bill Reid"
1979 NFB documentary

CBC Digital Archives
''The Raven's Call / L'Appel du Corbeau''
virtual exhibition from the ''Virtual Museum of Canada'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Bill 1920 births 1998 deaths Canadian people of American descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian people of German descent First Nations jewelers 20th-century First Nations sculptors Haida woodcarvers First Nations activists Members of the Order of British Columbia Northwest Coast art Artists from Victoria, British Columbia Victoria College, British Columbia alumni Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Canadian male sculptors 20th-century Canadian male artists 20th-century First Nations people Indspire Awards First Nations stone carvers Non-Status Indians

Biography

Early years

Major works and awards

Legacy and honours

Later years

Gallery

See also

References

External links