A Celebration of Life for Beau Dick, one of the great artists of the Northwest Coast, is taking place Sunday at the Museum of Anthropology.
Speakers include Larry Grant, Chief Robert Joseph, Linea Dick, Anthony Shelton, Scott Watson, Dana Claxton.
In Kwakwala, the language of the Kwakwaka’wakw, he was known as Walis Gwy’um which means “big, great whale.”
Walis Gwy’um spent the last four years as artist-in-residence at the University of B.C. where he was a teacher, colleague and mentor. He was a remarkable artist and man who made an impression on everyone who met him.
The celebration is from 2 to 4 p.m. at MOA, 6393 NW Marine Drive.
One of the masks by artist Beau Dick in an exhibition at 560 Gallery in 2012. Jenelle Schneider/PNG)
Dick died on Monday, March 27 at age 61. He was buried in the cemetery at Alert Bay following a traditional Kwakwaka’wakw funeral. A memorial potlatch will take place on the one-year anniversary of his death.
Just before he died, Dick had finished one addition to a set of masks being shown as part of the international art exhibition documenta 14. The masks are now in display in Athens and will move to Kassel in June.
“He placed an ‘action figure’ made in his own image — complete with long grey hair, one of his signature hats, a button blanket robe, and cedar Hamat’sa ring on his neck — on the back of his mask of an orca whale,” wrote Candice Hopkins, Dick’s curator for documenta 14.
“True to form, he was the one pulling the strings. One of the preparators who worked closely on the installation of his work remarked that this is likely where Beau is now, riding on the back of the whale.”
