Beau Dick Prints
By Emma DelliCarpini
Posted in News, on February 08, 2018
Beau Dick created a legacy in the Northwest Coast art market that will have a rippling effect for generations of artists from all over BC, Canada, and globally. He passed away in 2016, before his time. While best known for his affective masks and sculptures, Beau was a talented artist when it came to other media as well and created some distinctive and unique limited edition prints.
Tanis and Tani Gee are no exceptions to this legacy. These prints are simple in their design, yet they convey a deep sense of story and history.
Representing the Hamat'sa Dancer and the Winter Dancer, Tanis and Tani Gee are two- dimensional representations of Beau's striking art form. Beau Dick was an initiated Hamat'sa Dancer himself, so these prints can be interpreted as an expression of Beau's role as a participant. Little is known about the Hamat'sa to non-members, but we do know that cedar and cedar bark are used in the dance. Green cedar boughs are represented in the prints, and both prints show the main dancer interacting with these boughs in various ways.
These prints are a diptych that are available in the gallery or from our online print store: Native Art Prints
Beau's many works included masks, bowls, rattles, drums, original paintings, and limited edition prints. He began carving at a very early age, studying under his father, Benjamin, and his grandfather, James Dick. He worked with Tony and Henry Hunt, Bill Reid, Doug Cranmer, and Robert Davidson. His many important pieces are in the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Burke Museum in Seattle, and the BC Provincial Museum. Beau danced and performed at the Opening Ceremony of Expo 1986, and it was during this same year that he designed the Hands of Friendship logo for Lattimer Gallery. In May of 1998, his work was featured at the re-opening of Canada-House in London, England. In 2005, he was included in the highly successful exhibition Totems to Turquoise, which opened in New York and then came to Vancouver. In 2012, Beau received the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation’s VIVA Award for Visual Arts. Between 2014 and 2016, Beau was the University of British Columbia's Artist in Residence. He was dedicated to learning about historical Kwakwaka'wakw and Northwest Coast artwork, and he used many older pieces to fuel his creative processes.