Curator & Collector

A Blog about the Art, Museums, and Numismatics of the Northwest Coast

The Milky Way according to Bill Reid

Filed under: Bill Reid,Canadian Art,Canadians in the Arts,Museums & Galleries,Northwest Coast Aboriginal Art — Sunday, September 27th, 2009 @ 8:48 pm

Bill Reid's Milky Way

Bill Reid’s Milky Way, 1969

I fell in love with this gorgeous “tour de force” at first site, and feel unable to forego this quoted expression. An intricate jewelry piece that features a detachable middle that can serve as a brooch, it is indeed stunning. Those who might have wondered, as I did, what connections might exist in this piece to traditional Haida art, may be edified by this explanation, taken from the sign at the Bill Reid Art Gallery:

…Reid pointed out that traditional Haida artists very often represented two or more presences at the same time in their art. He gave that Haida concept of plurality a contemporary expression in this necklace with its two main components—-the wire “theme” and the pyramid “theme”—-which are theoretically capable of separation.

2 Comments »

  1. Vancouver again « Just A Flash In The Pan:

    [...] art and exquisite jewelry on display had a lot more wow to them. Charleen said she’d like the Milky Way Necklace for an anniversary [...]

  2. Curator & Collector » On Making Multiple Presences Share the Same Physical Space in Northwest Coast Art:

    [...] presences within the same physical space, a concept seen in Bill Reid’s modern jewelry piece The Milky Way. Thus, in the Kwakiutl pole, the central head and two end-heads of the sea-monster Sisiutl form the [...]

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