A Kwagu'l (Tsaxis) carver, married to Mary Hunt. Godfrey's parents were Kenneth Hunt and Minnie Wallas. On his father's side his grandparents were David Hunt and Sarah Lalaxsa; great-grandparents George Hunt and Lucy Homiskanis. (Information from Dean Bradley, grandson of Godfrey Hunt.)
Douglas & McIntyre was founded in 1971. It has since established itself as one of Canada’s largest independent book publishing houses with offices in Toronto and Vancouver. It consists of three publishing units, Douglas & McIntyre, Greystone Books and Groundwood Books. Douglas & McIntyre publishes books about many different subjects, including First Nations art and culture, food and wine, Canadian issues and politics, and the environment.
Friends of the Museum of Anthropology
Formally incorporated on December 23rd 1977, the Friends of the Museum of Anthropology at U.B.C. (University of British Columbia) was a society that had four main objectives:
• To promote interest in, and acquaint the public with the Museum of Anthropology at U.B.C.
• To provide for the holding of educational lectures, exhibitions, public meetings, classes and conferences on the subject of anthropology
• To acquire, accept, solicit or receive any gift or real or personal property as a contribution or addition to the funds of the society
• To receive, hold, distribute, invest and reinvest contributions from donors for the collections of and operation of the Museum of Anthropology at U.B.C.
The operations of the society were physically carried out in the museum. The affairs of the society were managed by a board of 24 directors; six were directly tasked with its initial establishment, while another 18 were elected at the first annual general meeting. Various committees and sub-committees were established, including the executive committee, who had the power to exercise the will of the board. Other committees included the membership committee and the sub-committees on Finance and Fundraising. Michael Ames, then-Director of the Museum of Anthropology, worked as the secretary for the society for most of its life-span. The society was directly involved with a 1981 benefit concert that took place in the Haida House to raise funds for a special gallery for a Haida canoe they wished to acquire. The friends’ peak of activity was from 1978-1982, after which time it became less and less active; dissolution occurred sometime around 1985.
The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was created by Royal Charter in 1670. For the most part of its history, the HBC was a fur trading business that played a significant role in the British colonization of North America.
During the second half of the 20th Century, the company gradually transformed into a department store chain.
Robert W. Reford was the heir to the Reford shipping and navigation business. In 1889 he journeyed from Montreal to British Columbia in order to assist with his family’s business there. He stayed in the province until 1891. Though centered in Victoria, Reford made several trips along the coast of British Columbia, into the interior and in to the Arctic. Reford was an amateur photographer and while in British Columbia he took a large number of photos, both of his acquaintances and of the local scenery and inhabitants.
In spring of 1983, Karen Duffek received her Masters of Arts in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia with a thesis titled The Contemporary Northwest Coast Indian Art Market. Karen Duffek’s relationship with the Museum of Anthropology has spanned over twenty years. From 1985 through 1999, Duffek was a Guest Curator and Research Associate, during which time she worked closely with Marjorie Halpin. In 1999, she took on a role as Interim Manager in Administration at MOA. In 2000, she was hired by the Museum of Anthropology as a Curator of Contemporary Visual Arts & the Pacific Northwest. Since 1985, Duffek has published numerous articles, essays, and anthologies addressing issues in Native Art. She has written multiple exhibition catalogues, including The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First Nations (UBC Press, 2000), which she co-authored with Bill McLennan. The Transforming Image won the Canadian Museum Association’s 2001 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Publications, and the British Columbia Historical Federation’s Certificate of Merit for Historical Writing in 2000. In 2005, Karen Duffek co-edited the anthology, Bill Reid and Beyond: Expanding on Modern Native Art (Douglas & McIntyre, 2004).
As the Curator of Contemporary Visual Arts & the Pacific Northwest, Karen Duffek has curated some major exhibitions at the Museum of Anthropology, including Border Zones: New Art across Cultures (2010), and Robert Davidson: The Abstract Edge (2004).
Lyle Wilson, a Haisla artist, was born in 1955 at Butedale, British Columbia. He grew up in the northern coastal communities of Kitimat and Kitimat Village. Wilson grew up watching his uncle, Sam Robinson, create carvings out of wood, and he later became a skilled carver and artist himself. In his explorations of art, Wilson brings together his fine-arts training and knowledge of Western European art history with his understanding of Haisla art and tradition and experiments with a range of media. In addition to the carvings he creates out of wood, horn and ivory, Wilson also creates metalwork, jewelry, drawings, and paintings.
Wilson attended the Emily Carr School of Art and Design and the University of British Columbia in the 1980s, where he was educated in European art traditions. At UBC Wilson was exposed to a wealth of Northwest Coast First Nations’ art. He studied artifacts, photographs of artifacts, and learned from practicing artists. He worked as a Project Consultant in the development of the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s Grand Hall exhibition and was an artist-in-residence at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. Wilson has worked on commissions and exhibited his work both locally in Vancouver as well as internationally in Osaka, Japan and New York.
James Cook was a British naval captain, navigator, and explorer who sailed the seaways and coasts of Canada (1759 and 1763–67), and conducted three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean (1768–71, 1772–75, and 1776–79), ranging from the Antarctic ice fields to the Bering Strait, and from the coasts of North America, to Australia and New Zealand. It was during his third voyage that Captain Cook sailed into the waters of what is now known as British Columbia. He spent a short period in the Pacific Northwest along what is now Vancouver Island during an expedition to find the fabled Northwest Passage. He never located the Passage, but paved the way for others to make a tremendous impact by establishing a British presence in the Pacific Northwest - he particularly influenced George Vancouver, who would sail as a midshipman with Captain Cook during his Pacific voyages.
When mapping the west coast of Vancouver Island, Cook gathered and recorded a vast amount of information about the Indigenous peoples of the area and their cultures. Cook also established a trading relationship with the Mowachaht Nation and their Chief Maquinna. The knowledge gathered by Cook contributed significantly to future expeditions, which eventually led to the European settlement and colonization of British Columbia. Cook died on February 14, 1779, on the Island of Hawaii.
Ozistalis (Chief Henry Speck) worked as a fisherman, dancer, and song writer. He became chief of the Tlawitsis Nation when he succeeded his father. In the early 1960s, he became artistic director of the Kwakiutl House Project in Alert Bay, where he also pursued his artistic skills; he taught carving and dancing in Alert Bay. "His unique approach to Kwakwaka'wakw design opened a new range of possibilities for a generation of artists" (Ayotte, Gallery of Tribal Art, 1995). He was commissioned by Gyula Mayer, a Vancouver art and antiques dealer, who was interested in collecting Northwest Coast pieces for his gallery; it was Mayer who encouraged Speck to paint with watercolours. Many of these paintings by Speck and other artists at the time were sold to private collectors, museums, or were collected by Mayer. "...Speck's paintings speak to the viewer with a clarity and a sense of immediacy. A striking aspect of Speck's work is its ability to invoke a three-dimensional "space" within the confines of a limited design field" (Ayotte, 1995).
Bertram Charles (B.C.) Binning
Bertram Charles (B.C.) Binning was born on February 10, 1909 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Due to an illness at a young age, he spent much of his time drawing in seclusion. His passion for art and architecture resulted in his enrolment in 1927 at the-then Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts. After spending time in the United States, in 1933 Binning was appointed to a staff position with the Vancouver School of Art. Later in 1938, B.C. Married Jessie Wyllie, the daughter of a Vancouver businessman. In 1949, he was transferred to the University Of British Columbia School Of Architecture. Soon after, he founded the Department of Fine Arts at UBC, which he headed for over twenty-five years.
With his appointment to the department of Fine Arts came a shift in his artistic direction. Whereas pre-1948 he had established himself as an internationally recognized architect, post-1948 he felt himself drawn towards expressing his creativity in oil painting. Building upon his architectural background, Binning often painted large complementary mosaic murals for various buildings and was particularly inspired by ships, marinas and seascapes in general; these were recurring themes for most of his artistic life.
The Binnings took the first of many visits to Japan in 1958. It was there that B.C. felt particularly inspired by the Japanese art and architecture he witnessed; these were a vehicle for a new and lengthy direction for his future work. While in Japan, B.C. and Jessie forged a deep relationship with Bishop Kojo Sakamoto (1875-1969), the 37th Superintendent Priest of the Kiyoshi Kojin Seicho-ji temple. A skilled calligrapher, Sakamoto’s work was influenced by colleague and friend Tomioka Tessai (1836-1924), a talented painter and calligrapher in his own right. The Binnings’ relationship with Sakamoto resulted in over a decade of frequent correspondence between Sakamoto, his family, and other Japanese friends with both B.C. and Jessie. After Sakamoto opened a successful Tessai exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1961, B.C. convinced him to contribute his own calligraphy for an exclusive exhibit that was eventually opened in September 1966 at the Fine Arts Gallery at the University of British Columbia.
Health problems prevented Binning from actively contributing to the art community in the early 1970’s, but by this time had built up a solid repertoire of pieces that have made their mark on the Canadian art scene. After his death on March 16th 1976, Jessie continued her role as a voice and representative for her husband’s work until her own death on May 25th, 2007. Her last public presence was as a consultant for an exhibit of B.C.’s work at the Vancouver Art Gallery that ran from January through April 2007.
Jessie Binning (nee Wyllie) was an important figure in the protection of the "Binning House" in West Vancouver and the emerging culture of West Coast Modernism. Her father was a businessman and one of the early entrepreneurs to trade with Japan and took Jessie on a trip to Japan when she was 19 years old, where she developed a lifelong appreciation for Japanese culture and art. Jessie Binning was also Bertram Charles (B.C.) Binning's wife, who founded the Department of Fine Arts at UBC in 1949 and was a renowned artist and teacher in BC. Jessie and Bert build their modern house in West Vancouver in 1941 and she lived there until her death at the age of 101.
Ben Houstie is a Heiltsuk artist born in Bella Bella, BC (Waglisla) in 1960. Ben’s works include: original paintings, limited edition prints, carved cedar rattles, and paddles. He has worked with Cheryl Hall, Robert Hall, David Gladstone, and Beau Dick. In 1988, Ben worked under Bill Reid painting several drums of Bill’s designs and 20 paddles for the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. Ben also painted several reconstructed artworks in 2000 for the Museum of Anthropology’s "The Transforming Image" exhibition. He is known for producing small original paintings and miniature wood masks. As a child, Ben watched master carver, Mungo Martin, working on the world’s largest totem pole, in Alert Bay, B.C. He is a survivor of the St Michael’s residential school in Alert Bay and his art serves as a form of healing and cultural connection. His great grandfather is Daniel Houstie and his son is Christopher Houstie. From: https://sa-cinn.com/ben-houstie-artcards-prints/