Gordon Dick: Honoring Story and Spirit in Wood

Artist Profile: Shapeshifters at SJIMA | On view now through September 15, 2025

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) is proud to feature the work of Gordon Dick, a master carver and Nuu-chah-nulth artist, in the 2025 summer exhibition Shapeshifters, on view now through September 15 in the Nichols, North, and Atrium Galleries. Dick’s work stands as a profound expression of the enduring relationship between people, land, and sea on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Master carver and Nuu-chah-nulth artist Gordon Dick.

Rooted in his Tseshaht heritage on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Gordon Dick has been immersed in the cultural and artistic traditions of his community since childhood. Guided early on by the teachings of his grandparents, Gordon’s art began as a way to connect with these stories—eventually growing into a life’s work of honoring and continuing his culture through carving, jewelry, and design.

The Great Being

He began formal training at age fifteen, exploring painting, drawing, ceramics, and engraving, before becoming a passionate wood carver and repoussé artist. His mastery of gold, silver, and copper engraving allows him to blend traditional forms with innovative craftsmanship—often incorporating finely worked metals into wood carvings. His signature aesthetic merges bold Nuu-chah-nulth shapes, flowing ovals, and animal motifs with modern precision and sensitivity.

Gordon’s contribution to his home community of Tseshaht is deep and lasting. In 2005, he helped carve two 25-foot totem poles under master artist Tim Paul. In 2010, he raised a 23-foot memorial pole honoring survivors of the Port Alberni Residential School, a powerful testament to both cultural survival and healing. His art is never separate from community—it is an offering of mentorship, memory, and revitalization.

In his interview with SJIMA Assistant Director Wendy Smith, Gordon reflects on the natural world as both inspiration and collaborator. In discussing The Great Being, his remarkable carving on display at SJIMA, he shares:

"It's all one continuous, seamless piece of material. And this material has those tones, those shades in it, and that's naturally from the nature of the tree. And the ribboning of the grain implies the water movement as well."

This reverence for the material—the story of the tree itself—animates the work with life and meaning. For Gordon, carving is not just technical mastery; it is a spiritual process, honoring the natural elements while shaping forms that carry cultural knowledge forward.

Watch the full 13-minute interview with Gordon Dick embedded below to hear, in his own words, how ancestral teachings, time spent on the water, and deep respect for nature’s materials shape his creative journey.

As Shapeshifters invites us to consider transformation in both art and identity, Gordon Dick’s work stands as a powerful reminder: art rooted in tradition can also be a vessel for future generations. Through form, texture, and story, his carvings speak of resilience, connection, and the sacred rhythm of life on the coast.

In 2008, Gordon Dick founded Ahtsik Gallery, located on the unceded, traditional territory of the Tseshaht First Nation. The gallery is a vibrant hub for Northwest Coast Indigenous artists from across British Columbia, showcasing the diversity and depth of Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakiutl, Coast Salish First Nations, and neighboring nations’ art forms. More than a gallery, Ahtsik is a cultural statement—a celebration of survival, resistance, and creativity in the face of colonial erasure. Created in part to honor ancestors who preserved their traditions in secret during the Potlatch ban, the space stands today as a testament to Indigenous resilience and renewal. Explore the gallery and Gordon Dick’s continued work HERE.

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Shapeshifters is on view at SJIMA through September 15, 2025. The museum is open Thursday through Monday, 11 AM – 5 PM. Learn more at www.sjima.org.

SJIMA extends heartfelt thanks to the generous Shapeshifters Exhibition sponsors: Banner Bank, Barbara & Frank Fagan, Terry Lush & Linda Nelson, Alan & Lynn Weber/Roochvarg, Anonymous, Browne’s Home Center, Friday Harbor Suites, Harbor Rentals, Printonyx, and Terry Ogle Painting.