Dempsey Bob, D.Litt (born 1948) is a Northwest Coast woodcarver and sculptor from

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, ...

, Canada, who is of

Tahltan The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahane' ...

and

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

First Nations descent. He was born in the Tahltan village of

Telegraph Creek Telegraph Creek is a small community located off Highway 37 in northern British Columbia at the confluence of the Stikine River and Telegraph Creek. The only permanent settlement on the Stikine River, it is home to approximately 250 members of Tah ...

on the

Stikine River The Stikine River is a major river in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States. It drains a large, remote upland area known as the Stikine Country east of the Coast Mountains. Flowing west and south f ...

in northwestern B.C., and is of the

Wolf clan The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

Career

Dempsey began carving in 1969, studying with the

Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a 1 ...

carver

Freda Diesing Freda Diesing (2 June 1925 – 4 December 2002) was a Haida woman of the Sadsugohilanes Clan, one of very few female carvers of Northwest Coast totem poles and a member of the Council of the Haida Nation of British Columbia, Canada. Her Haid ...

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

, B.C. In 1972-1974 he studied at the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art ('Ksan) at Hazelton, B.C., in

Gitksan Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approxim ...

territory and then taught there for many years. In 2006, he helped found and is an advisor of the

Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art is a progressive art school focusing on the "Northern Style" of the Northwest Coast Art. The school is located on the Coast Mountain College Campus in Terrace, BC; Canada. This school is unique becaus ...

s at

Coast Mountain College Coast Mountain College (CMTN) is an accredited, publicly-funded post-secondary educational institution that serves the communities of British Columbia's northwest region. CMTN offers field schools, college access, trades, university credit, healt ...

in Terrace, B.C., to carry on Diesing's legacy and guide the next generation of First Nation artists. His apprentices have included the Tahltan carver Dale Campbell and Tlingit carver Keith Wolfe Smarch. He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 2013 for his work as a carver, teaching the next generation of carvers and his dedication to Talhtan-Tlingit cultural preservation. He also received an honorary degree 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 ...

in 2014. His work is in many important museum and gallery collections including 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 of C ...

; the

Royal British Columbia Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...

; the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology; the Audain Art Museum; the Columbia Museum of Ethnology; the Aboriginal and Northern Affairs art collection in Ottawa, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

; National Museum of Ethnology in Japan; and the Hamburgisches Museum fur Volkerskkunde in Hamburg, Germany. Major commissions include the Vancouver Airport Authority, the Museum of Northern B.C.,

; and the Owase Community Cultural Centre, Japan. Bob's preferred medium is wood although he uses many different materials in his work. He carves bowls, masks,

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 m ...

s and other works, mostly in the

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

style. The first time his work was shown at the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

was in 1992. He was included in the landmark exhibition ''Land Spirit Power'', the first survey exhibition of First Nations contemporary art to be held at the NGC. Since then he has had many solo and group exhibitions in Canada and around the world and his works have been widely collected in major public and private collections. Themes of his artwork include developing ideas from traditional West Coast First Nations stories and frogs being one of his preferred subjects.

Exhibitions

Dempsey Bob's solo exhibitions include: * 1989: ''Tahltan-Tlingit - Carver of the Wolf Clan'', The Grace Gallery, Vancouver, BC * 1993: ''Myth Maker and Transformer'', Vancouver Centennial Museum, Vancouver, BC * 2014: North, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC * 2017-2018: New Work, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC * 2022: ''Wolves: The Art of Dempsey Bob'', Audain Art Museum, Whistler, BC

Awards and Honours

* Aboriginal Art Lifetime Achievement Awards, 2007 * Officer of the Order of Canada, 2013 * Hon. Degree from UBC, 2014 * Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts Artistic Achievement Award, 2021

References

Bibliography

*. *. *. *. * Hill, Greg A.(2015), Acquisition Proposal for Dempsey ''Bob's Eagles North'' and ''Wolf Warrior Helmet'', accession #46710 and #46711, Curatorial File, National Gallery of Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Bob, Dempsey 1948 births 20th-century First Nations people 21st-century First Nations people Artists from British Columbia First Nations woodcarvers Living people People from the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine Tahltan people Tlingit people Officers of the Order of Canada Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners