Remarkable, distinguished, superb, extraordinary – all apply to Northwest Coast artist Dempsey Bob.

Bob is a Tahltan and Tlingit artist.

He has been carving for 54 years.

His first carvings were wooden toys he made for himself as a young boy.

Wolves are an endless source of fascination and inspiration for his carvings.

He admires them.
“When I carve, I try to stylize what I see. I also incorporate what I think of them. I aim to bring these elements together. i try to get those beautiful lines that are flowing, that are moving. In the eyes, I see the intelligence, the strength too.”

Bob has carved stunning masks with a wolf motif – the long nose, sharp focused eye, gleaming white teeth.

Bob began carving under the tutelage of the legendary Freda Diesing.

Diesing was rare. She was a Haida and a woman. She played a large part in the major revival of Northwest Coast art in the 1960s.

As a master carver, painter, educator, she mentored and taught many of the Northwest Coast’s top artists.

Bob is known for his abilities to blend contemporary style with traditional Tahltan-Tlingit sculptural art. He uses traditional alder, red cedar, and yellow cedar wood in his carvings.

Aside from sculpting he also paints and designs ceremonial robes.

He has received numerous awards. His art is featured in major museum collections and galleries around the world. These include the Columbia Museum of Ethnology and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., National Museum of Ethnology in Japan, and Canada House in London.

He is well known for mentoring and teaching aspiring young artists.

In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada — one of the country’s highest civilian honours.

Bob’s perspective on his art, his people’s historical art and its continual evolution is powerful.
“I have been carving alder and cedar for over thirty years. For the past eight years, I have been studying and sculpting bronze.  Bronze has a different feel to it.  It’s new, and it’s a challenge to make it good.  Our people were great sculptors.  They knew as much about sculpture as any other great cultures in the world.  The great old northwest coast pieces in wood would make great bronze sculptures today. 

“Tlingit people made copper masks, frontlets, jewelry and rattles, and bronze in 90 per cent copper. Our art has to evolve otherwise it will die. The old master artists carved bone, copper, gold, horn, ivory, silver, stone and wood.  My great grandfather was a carver. If he were carving today, he would have gone “to town” with all the new tools and materials.  I often wonder where the art would be today if our people did not stop carving for all those years.  We have to make our art real for our people today.”