It is difficult to encapsulate how important and impactful Beau Dick’s life and work are in a single essay. According to his biography in the Museum of Anthropology database:

He was introduced to traditional art forms by his grandfather, the late Chief Jimmy Dick and by his father, Ben (Blackie) Dick. He studied with Doug Cranmer and Henry Hunt, among others, who taught him traditional design and carving techniques [1].

Building on this foundation of customary Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw art training, Beau pushed the boundaries of scale and animation, creating masks with elaborate articulated mechanisms that seemed to breathe supernatural beings into motion.

Dick was also an activist, remembered for leading copper-cutting ceremonies that stretched from Quatsino to Victoria in 2013 and from Vancouver to Ottawa in 2014 [2]. These powerful journeys were later documented in the 2016 Belkin Gallery exhibition Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity. Since his passing in 2017, his legacy has grown through major honours, including the retrospective Beau Dick: Revolutionary Spirit at the Audain Gallery in 2018, the documentary Meet Beau Dick: Maker of Monsters (2017), and the upcoming U.S. retrospective Beau Dick: Insatiable Beings at the Frye Art Museum, opening October 25, 2025 [3].

This present Ghost Mask with Articulated Raven embodies the artist’s fascination with 19th-century articulated masks and puppetry once used in elaborate potlatch performances and ceremonial contexts. It also reflects his refusal to follow convention, turning away from the brightly painted, formline-driven masks that had come to dominate Northwest Coast production by the second half of the 20th century. Beau studied ancestral carving and painting styles that carried their own power and cadence, and he was among the few makers of his time who created such works for a gallery-going public. This mask is carved with knife-finished facets that catch and reflect the light like fractured stone, even though its surface is painted in a deep, darkened red. It bristles with horsehair and supports an articulated Raven puppet on top, a presence that can be brought to life by the wearer’s hand. The being that emerges from Beau’s vision is stark and unforgettable, its gaze both haunting and magnetic, a work that insists on attention and lingers in one’s memory.

1. Beau Dick (1955–Mar 2017) Biography. MOA Catalogue. https://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/search/person?person=726&tab=biography. Accessed 23 September 2025.

2. Ibid.

3. We note that at the time of publication this exhibition is described as “upcoming.” We trust that all has gone according to plan and that the exhibition is now in full swing.

FA with ND