Robert Davidson (b.1946) ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Robert Davidson, of Haida and Tlingit descent, is one of Canada’s most respected contemporary artists and central to the renaissance of Northwest Pacific indigenous art. He has championed the rich art tradition of his native Haida Gwaii, consistently searching ‘for the “soul” he saw in the art of his Haida elders’. As he works in both classical form and contemporary minimalism, Davidson negotiates a delicate edge between the ancestral and the individual, infusing traditional forms with an evolutionary spirit. Awards include National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Art and Culture, Order of British Columbia, Order of Canada, Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, British Columbia Aboriginal Art Lifetime Achievement Award, Governor General’s Award, and the commemorative medal marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne as Queen of Canada and honouring significant achievements by Canadians. Robert Davidson CV EDUCATION: In 1966 Davidson became apprenticed to the master Haida carver Bill Reid and in 1967 he began studies at the Vancouver School of Art. EXHIBITIONS | SELECTED 2015 – Robert Davidson: Progression of Form,Gordon Smith Gallery, North Vancouver, BC 2014 – Abstract Impulse, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA Abstract Impulse, National Museum of the North American Indian, New York, NY 2011 – The Art of Robert Davidson, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 2010 – Visions of British Columbia: A Landscape Manual, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC Haida Art — Mapping an Ancient Language, McCord Museum, Montreal, PQ Eagle Transforming: The Prints of Robert Davidson, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC 2009 – Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg ON 2006 – Raven Travelling — Two Centuries of Haida Art, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC 2004 – Robert Davidson: The Abstract Edge, Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC 1998 – Expanding The Circle, The Art of guud san glans, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, OR 1993 – Eagle of The Dawn, Opened at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC and closed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull 1992 – Robert Davidson — Recollections, Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Philadelphia, Philadelphia AWARDS 2012 – Received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 2010 – Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts, Canada Council 2007 – Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), University of British Columbia Aboriginal Art Lifetime Achievement Awards, BC Achievement Foundation 1996 – Member of the Order of Canada 1995 – Order of British Columbia National Aboriginal Achievement Award, now the Indspire Awards 1994 – Honorary Doctor of Laws, Simon Fraser University 1992 – Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, University of Victoria PRESS & PUBLICATIONS | SELECTED 2009 – Robert Davidson, Patrick Cotter, Four Decades, an Innocent Gesture, Robert Davidson. 1994 – Robert Davidson, Saeko Usukawa, Eagle Transforming, The art of Robert Davidson, Douglas & McIntyre. 1993 – Ian Thom, Robert Davidson, Eagle of the Dawn, Douglas & McIntyre. 1984 – Ulli Steltzer, A Haida Potlatch, University of Washington. 1981 – Hillary Stewart, Robert Davidson, Haida Printmaker, Douglas & McIntyre. WORKS | SELECTED Humming Bird Sea Bear Serigraph Serigraph 26.5 x 29.5 inches. 20.5 x 26.5 inches. Killer Whale Raven with Broken Beak Serigraph Serigraph 12 x 21.5 inches. 12 x 21.5 inches. Bird in the Air Acrylic on canvas 40 x 60 inches 2012. Wintertime – Q’warw Gyaa.ang Serigraph, 29 x 15.5 inches 2014. .