CULTURAL GROUP:
Kwakwaka'wakw (Namgis, Ma’amtagila, Mamalilikala)

BORN:
May 26, 1977

BIRTHPLACE:
Alert Bay, BC

Rande Cook (K'alapa) is a self-taught jeweller who also creates limited edition prints and works in wood. He inherited his grandfather's chieftainship in 2008, and now carries the name Makwala, meaning "Moon." Rande has apprenticed under adopted Kwakwaka'wakw artist John Livingston in wood carving techniques. He produces jewellery in gold and silver, masks, bentwood boxes, drums, prints, and paddles. As a child, he was strongly influenced by his grandfather, Gus Matilpi. Rande was featured in the Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2 exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, NY, in 2005. He has been expanding his capacities with new creative ideas in jewellery. In 2010, he traveled to Italy to study European smithing technique under Valentin Yotkov, and in 2012, he traveled to New York to Yotkov's studio to develop repoussé and chasing techniques. In 2015 and 2016, Cook held the Audain Professorship of Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest with the Visual Arts department at the University of Victoria. Also in 2015, Rande was awarded a BC Achievement Award in First Nations Art from the province for his artistic contributions. Rande's work can be found in galleries throughout Canada and the United States, and in collections around the world.