Nice profile on the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver.
On a nondescript industrial street in Vancouver is the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. The art gallery and cultural center, which opened last year, is dedicated to the man who in the latter half of the 20th century strove to bring the works of the First Nations tribes—most notably their totem poles—to the forefront of the art world. By the early 1900s, the totem pole—with its soaring wings, glaring eyes, and gaping mouths—had become a symbol of the Pacific Northwest. The poles amazed crowds at fairs such as the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. But in British Columbia, the totem poles were banned. So, too, was the potlatch, which pitted the wealthiest and most powerful members of a tribe against each other in feats of extreme generosity. – From Robb Report