Jim Hart

Born in 1952 and considered one of the most established and prominent Northwest Coast Canadian artists, Jim Hart comes from a long line of Haida chiefs carvers. As Chief of the Eagle Clan since 1999, Hart holds the name and hereditary title of his great-great-grandfather, Charles Edenshaw: 7idansuu and is the chief of the Haida Nation. With a career that spans several decades, Hart began working with renowned Haida artists Robert Davidson and Bill Reid, and participated in the creation of some of the best known contemporary Northwest Coast artworks, including “The Raven and the First Men” by Bill Reid at the Museum of Anthropology. Jim Hart’s monumental works are located in major Canadian museums and galleries. In 1979, he was commissioned by the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria to carve a 7’ X 9’ foot cedar Dogfish Screen. In 2000 Hart carved the replacement to a Bill Reid pole within the Haida Village behind the Museum of Anthropology and in 2008 he carved the Celebration of Bill Reid Pole now located in The Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver. In 2011 his large bronze, "The Three Watchmen", was installed outside of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa as part of their permanent collection. Jim Hart's The Dance Screen, The Scream Too, was put on permanent display at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler and inaugurated in 2018. Hart was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2003 and received a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013. Hart holds an honorary doctorate from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and was also awarded an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University in 2017. In 2021, Hart was awarded the Audain Prize for Visual Art as the province’s most distinguished artist and has been called “one of BC’s greatest living artists”.