27-05-2025
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
Master carver Dempsey Bob donates salmon art piece to Prince Rupert Public Library
Tahltan/Tlingit master carver Dempsey Bob has gifted the Prince Rupert Public Library a striking artwork from his renowned Salmon series, enriching the community with a powerful symbol of cultural heritage.
The artist lived in the Prince Rupert area from 1960 until around 2006, and the library holds a special place in his heart.
'People ask me where I went to art school? But there was no art school at the Northwest coast,' said Bob. 'I tell them I went to art school at the Prince Rupert Public Library. I studied art there,' he laughed.
In a time before the internet, Bob spent countless hours at the library studying every art book and archive he could find. His recent gift is a way of giving back to a place that helped shape his artistic journey by offering the community something visually inspiring.
'The salmon is very important to our culture. The salmon gave the northwest coast people the time to carve. We can preserve enough salmon in a month to last us one year,' said Bob.
'So the salmon was what gave us that time and the freedom to do our art. Our carvings are everything. Salmon is like the buffalo to us, it's the centre of our culture.'
In 2024, Bob also exhibited his Salmon series at the North Pacific Cannery Historic Site in Port Edward.
He notes that the coast is seeing fewer salmon now than in previous years, and this change deeply concerns the people he knows. His artwork is a powerful statement on the importance of salmon, both as a cultural symbol and a vital part of the coastal ecosystem.
'I coloured it gold because the gold rush for the salmon is over. There's no more canneries,' said Bob.
The carver grew up at the Port Edward cannery and shares that for over 120 years, his ancestors have worked in canneries along the coast. This has marked the First Nations people with a deep, generational connection to the fishing industry.
'We are the last cannery generation of people that live there and work there,' he said.
The Salmon series is his ode to the north coast culture.
Bob has been drawing since childhood and began making art formally in 1969. Today, he is a world-renowned master carver credited with helping to establish the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in Terrace.
His work is featured in prestigious institutions and museums worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and beyond. A striking series of his masks are also on display at the Vancouver and Prince Rupert airports, showcasing the depth and beauty of Northwest Coast Indigenous art to travellers from around the globe.
