Lot 74
BILL REID, O.B.C., R.C.A. (1920-1998)
Hurry Home Spoon, c. 1982
wood carved spoon accompanied by a note inscribed by the artist in black ink
spoon: 17.5 x 1.5 x .75 in (44.5 x 3.8 x 1.9 cm);
frame: 13.25 x 12.25 in (33.7 x 31.1 cm).
Estimate: $1,000— $1,500
Provenance
Collection of Dr. George and Mrs. Joanne MacDonald, Cantley, Quebec, gift of the artist, c. 1982;
Estate of Dr. George MacDonald.
This spoon and its accompanying dedication in the form of an alliterative poem were a gift from artist Bill Reid and his wife Martine to their friends George and Joanne MacDonald. The gift was meant to encourage George and Joanne to return westward, back towards the Reids in Vancouver, after the MacDonalds' return to Ottawa in the early 1980s. The MacDonalds had lived in Vancouver for a year during George's tenure as a visiting scholar at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. Finely carved from a single piece of wood, with its slender and elongated handle and bowl, the spoon's shape bears a strong resemblance to a traditional Haida canoe paddle.