(b Victoria, BC, 1920; d Vancouver, BC, 13 March 1998). Native Canadian Haida metalsmith, carver and printmaker. He was the son of a German-Scots-American father and a Haida mother, and grew up in British Columbia. From 1948 to 1950 he studied goldsmithing at Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto, and was subsequently apprenticed at the Platinum Art Company of Toronto. He then moved to Vancouver, where he established a jewellery workshop. His motivation to acquire skills as a goldsmith stemmed from his interest in the bracelet-making of his maternal forebears, the Haida of Queen Charlotte Islands, and he was particularly inspired by Charles Gladstone, his grandfather, and other relatives such as John Cross and CHARLES EDENSHAW. Reid expanded the tradition by applying his knowledge of and skills in European jewellery techniques, while at the same time studying, analysing and discovering the structure of ancient Haida pieces in museums. His research led to recognition as an authority on Haida design and as an important link between traditional Haida culture and mainstream 20th-century art. In 1958 he was commissioned to recreate a section of 19th-century Haida village in the grounds of the University of British Columbia. The complex comprises two traditional-style Haida houses and seven totem poles and other monumental cedar carvings. The experience Reid acquired in working on this commission and his training as a goldsmith were brought together to produce sculptural objects in precious metals, such as the Bear Mother gold box (early 1970s; Hull, Qu?., Can. Mus. Civiliz.). Small-scale works such as these eventually led to monumental works such as the Raven and the First Men (1978; Vancouver, U. BC, Mus. Anthropol.) and such cast-bronze sculptures as Killer Whale (h. 5.5 m; Vancouver Public Aquarium) and the frieze Mythic Messengers (l. 9 m, for Teleglobe Canada) and the Spirit of Haida Gwaii (l. 6.05 m, Washington, DC, Canadian Chancery). Reid has been instrumental in promoting the northern design tradition, and in all his works has been a bridge between older and younger Native American artists of the Northwest Coast. He has drawn on his Haida heritage while moving beyond it to create works of unforgettable authority. Reid has also written and illustrated books, and helped to pioneer the development of silk screen art among Native Americans of the Northwest Coast.
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