James Hart (7IDANsuu) is one of the most significant contemporary Haida artists, known for his masterful carving, monumental sculptures and cultural leadership. Born in Masset, Haida Gwaii, in the early 1950s, Hart carries the hereditary chief name 7IDANsuu, a lineage that connects him directly to renowned Haida artist Charles Edenshaw. His early artistic development included apprenticeships with two pivotal figures in Northwest Coast art, Robert Davidson and Bill Reid. Through this mentorship, he contributed to major cultural works, including finishing details on The Raven and the First Men (1980) and assisting on Reid’s iconic sculpture Spirit of Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe (1996). Hart is a hereditary chief whose work reinforces Haida identity, storytelling and cultural continuity.

Hart is recognized as among the first Northwest Coast artists to work in bronze, expanding the medium of Haida sculpture while maintaining deep cultural symbolism. His major artworks—such as Frog Constellation (1995, in the collection of Simon Fraser University), The Dance Screen (2013, on permanent display inside the Audain Art Museum) and The Three Watchmen (multiple versions, which are in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, installed outside the Audain Art Museum and also installed in Vancouver and Quebec City)—blend tradition with innovation, demonstrating both technical mastery and profound narrative depth. His Reconciliation Pole at the University of British Columbia stands as one of his most powerful contributions, honouring survivors and victims of residential schools.

Hart’s Celebration of Bill Reid Pole (figure 1) represents a pivotal moment in the artist’s evolution. Carved from a 500-year-old red cedar sourced in Haida Gwaii and completed in Vancouver at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, where it is on permanent display, the 20-foot pole merges traditional totem pole form with modern sculptural qualities. The work serves as a deeply considered tribute to Hart’s mentor, Bill Reid. The pole includes a fully rounded raven figure at the top, painted in red and black (figure 2), whose carved human face subtly honours Reid while evoking the Raven’s trickster qualities.

Our work, Spirit of Bill Reid, focuses on the top Reid-raven figure, and stands over five feet in height. The title references the senior artist’s famous 1991 monumental work Spirit of Haida Gwaii (the bronze Spirit of Haida Gwaii: Black Canoe is at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC; the jade canoe version sits at the Vancouver International Airport; and a full-scale plaster version stands in the Canadian Museum of History’s Grand Hall). Near the centre of the sculpture, the artist has integrated Reid’s facial features into the raven’s chest, lending the work a powerful duality and symbolic resonance. The claws grasp below, grounding the figure and emphasizing its vertical strength. Both raven and Reid look forward, authoritative and composed. This bronze work, with its extraordinary detailing and monochromatic surfaces, recalls nineteenth-century argillite carvings and demonstrates Hart’s ability to translate traditional Haida forms into new materials and experiences. The bronze exemplifies Hart’s development of works from cedar to bronze, expanding the reach of his monumental forms through limited editions.

Hart produced the bronze casts (this work is edition 9/9) at the Polich Tallix foundry in New York’s Hudson Valley. The New York facility has produced work for Louise Bourgeois, Jeff Koons and Roy Lichtenstein, among many other artists. A version of this sculpture cast in bronze with jade-green patina is on loan to the Haida Gwaii Museum, from the collection of the Hart family.