William Ronald Reid or Bill Reid was a globally acclaimed Canadian artist, sculptor, carver, writer, goldsmith, and spokesperson.
He was born on January 12, 1920 in Victoria, British Columbia, to a European father and a Haida mother.
After spending the early years of his life in Victoria, Bill Reid moved to Toronto, where he worked as a radio commentator for almost fifteen years.
Along with his occupation with radio, the artist got himself trained as a goldsmith, and studied the old pieces in museums.
Reid married thrice, with his first marriage being in 1944, which bore him a daughter.
In the year 1951, Bill Reid headed back to Vancouver, Canada, and started a workshop, to design jewelry in gold, silver, and argillite, there.
Haida culture inspired his jewelry designs.
Bill had command over a vast range of metalwork techniques and he articulately applied European technology that he had acquired to expand his business.
Apart from being a great artist, Bill Reid, also played a pivotal role in revitalizing northern art, as a communicator.
Reid's experience in broadcasting industry gave him an edge over the other communicators of his time.
From 1958-1962, he designed a beautiful section depicting a Haida village at the "UBC Museum of Anthropology, British Columbia.
" During 1965 to 1967, he worked in "The Arts of Raven" as a consultant.
Bill Reid, as a guest at the "Central School of Design," spent two years in London studying goldsmith techniques and European silver.
He married for the third time in the year 1981.
The artist is credited for some magnificent creations, including carving, drawing, prints, sculptures (in bronze, red cedar, & yellow cedar), and jewelry.
Some of Bill's marvels are: -"The Skidegate Heraldic Pole" -The massive yellow cedar sculpture, "The Raven and the First Men (1980)" -The "first pole" to be raised in his mother's village in a century -The Chief of the Undersea World (1983-84) -The bronze "Killer Whale" sculpture -The large bronze "Frieze Mythic Messenger" -Vancouver Aquarium -Telenglobe Canada -The fifty foot cedar "Warcanoe Lootaas," which was commissioned for Exposition 86 by the Bank of British Columbia -"Burnaby (1984)" -"The Shape of Frogs to Come" -"Phyllidula" -"The Spirit of Haida Gwaii" -"The Black Canoe" in Washington D.
C.
at Canadian Embassy -"Jade Canoe (1996)" Bill Reid received seven degrees from various Canadian Universities.
He was also credited to be the first artist, whose work was displayed in the esteemed Musse de l'homme in Paris, during his lifetime.
The artist received many awards - Ryerson fellowship (1985), Molson Award (1976), Diplome d'Honneur for services to the arts (1979), Bronfman award for excellence in craft (1986), Freeman of the City Vancouver (1988), Vancouver Lifetime Achievement Award, Royal Bank Award (1990), National Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award (1994), membership of the Order of British Columbia (1994), Bill Mason Award, and Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Allied Art Medal (1994).
He was also made an Officer of Order of Arts & Letters, France.
On March 13, 1998, Bill Reid succumbed to Parkinson's disease.