Art auction will help up and coming artists

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The Bill Reid Foundation and Simon Fraser University (SFU) will introduce Objects of Bright Pride: A First Nations Art Auction, featuring Northwest Coast art on Oct. 27 in Vancouver.

The auction will feature works created by Bill Reid, Jim Hart, Reg Davidson, David Boxley, Corey Moraes and Christian White.

The ticket price includes a First Nations-inspired buffet reception, live and silent auctions, with approximately 200 pieces to bid on. The pieces will include masks, jewelry, wood carvings, woven materials and other cultural pieces.

According to George MacDonald, president of the Bill Reid Foundation, the auction will also be available online so people can view the objects while placing bids over the phone.

MacDonald said the auction will act as a fundraiser for both the Bill Reid Foundation and SFU, and will pay tribute to William Ronald (Bill) Reid, a Canadian jeweler, sculptor and artist who passed away in March 1998.

Reid began by making jewelry before branching out into larger sculptures in bronze and red cedar, usually portraying figures, animals and scenes from legends.

His work is featured on the $20 note in the Bank of Canada's new Canadian journey issue. His most grand works are two large bronze sculptures, each with a canoe filled with human and animal figures: one called The Spirit of Haida Gwaii can be viewed at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC. The second sculpture is green and called The Jade Canoe and that can be seen at Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia.

Reid received many honors, including honorary degrees from the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, the University of Victoria, the University of Western Ontario, York University, and Trent University. He received the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1994, and was made a member of the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.

Following Reid's death, Herb Auerbach, a driving force in the creation of the foundation, along with other close friends and Reid's wife Martine, shared the idea of creating a permanent memorial to the artist to ensure that his stories and the collection of his works were not lost. The foundation was created as a not-for-profit society in January 1999. MacDonald succeeded Auerbach in February.

MacDonald said the funds received after direct expenses will be split evenly between SFU, to support the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art, and the Bill Reid Foundation for projects like the national gallery of Aboriginal art. The national gallery is a compilation of items from First Nation artists in other parts of the country.

According to MacDonald, SFU and the Bill Reid Foundation have been working together to create a database of the Northwest Coast artists and he said they have already catalogued more than 1,400 artists' work.

"What we hope to do is do a definitive digital archive of Bill's work, which would be audio tape, video, film, photography and every text that Bill wrote," said MacDonald. "

We think it will eventually be a massive archive on Bill Reid and his life. We will then use that as a template for all of the other artists of Northwest Coast art."

MacDonald said the foundation is really trying to emphasize both the well-established artists on the coast, but they also want to give new artists the chance to be well known internationally.

"One of the main projects of the foundation is to foster the development of the First Nations art gallery for the whole Canadian gallery of Aboriginal art, which is different from museums," said MacDonald. "We really feel there should be a First Nations art gallery that deals with the whole country and we would like it to be here in Vancouver because it has become the major art market for Native art in the country. It used to be Montreal and based on Inuit art and it is now shifting clearly to the West Coast so there are far more galleries and more olume of art and more dollars involved in the art market here than anywhere else in Canada."

For more information about the auction and how to obtain tickets, email aucion@billreidfoundation.org or call (604) 268-7876.