Wade Baker
Wade Baker's art piece that the Chilkat Print is based on (above)
and making colour decisions at the Chloe Angus Design studio (below).
"I started creating large classic red cedar potlatch masks after attending many of my families potlatches along the west coast during my younger years. My mother is a hereditary chief of the Kwakiutl people, and I have the authentic rights to create these masks through her four chieftainships. I am also descended from Chief Capilano’s family on my father’s side."
Wade is a sculptor, graphic designer and red cedar carver. He has been carving and creating art since he was a teenager. As a descendent of ancient Coast Salish, Kwakwaka'wakw, Tlingit and Haida nobility, Wade has inherited a rich artistic legacy. In these traditions, art is not a separate activity but is interwoven in life, language, custom, law and culture. Art is a means of spiritual expression in which a design or piece of art can encompass an entire story.
Wade’s preference is to create large public art sculptures. He has worked in steel, wood, glass, marble and many other mediums. His stainless steel North Star was commissioned for the 2010 Olympics and stands at the Vancouver Olympic Village site. One of the highlights for Wade was meeting Prince Charles when the North Star was unveiled in 2009.
Wade has also produced smaller public art designs and in 2000, Wade’s wolf design was selected to be part of the Millennium series of Royal Canadian Mint quarters. 50 million quarters were produced with Wade’s design and are now in circulation. Wade is a member of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, and a Director at Large for Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia.
Most recently, Wade started writing the history of his British ancestors Lieutenant Joseph Baker, an early mapmaker of the British Columbia Coast, and Robert Hunt, a fur trader and factor with the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 1850’s
Artwork By Wade Baker:
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