Davidson, Robert Charles

DAVIDSON, Robert Charles, artist (b 4 Nov 1946, Hydaburg, AK). He grew up in MASSET on the QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, where he began carving as a teenager, working in wood and ARGILLITE under the instruction of his HAIDA father and grandfather. He moved to VANCOUVER in 1965 to complete high school, then apprenticed with the carver Bill REID. Davidson attended the Vancouver School of Art 1967–70 (see EMILY CARR INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN). In Masset in 1969 he carved his first TOTEM POLE, the first pole raised in the village in more than 90 years. He also began carving masks and making jewellery and prints. Among his major commissions are the housefront for the Charles EDENSHAW Memorial Longhouse at Masset (1977–78); a talking stick presented to Pope John Paul II during his Vancouver visit in 1984; a trio of poles in the International Sculpture Garden in Purchase, NY; and poles in Dublin, Montreal and Toronto. In 1993 a major retrospective of his work opened at the VANCOUVER ART GALLERY and travelled to the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. Davidson is a member of the ORDER OF BC (1995) and the Order of Canada (1996).
Reading: Ian Thom, ed, Robert Davidson: Eagle of the Dawn, 1993.