First Name: Tim 

Last Name: Paul

Full Name: Tim Paul 

Date of birth: 1950

Place of birth: Esperanza Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada 

Community/Heritage: Hesquiaht / Nuu Chah Nulth

Sex: Male

Art Media: acrylics on paper, carving, silkscreen prints 

Bio: 

Tim Paul was born in 1950 in Esperanza Inlet, but has since relocated to Port Alberni. He is from the Hesquiat Band of the West Coast (Nootka) people.  His first eight years of school took place at Christie Residential School, with his final two years of school at Mission Residential School. 

Paul learned cultural lessons and language from Nuu Chah Nulth elders such as Moses Smith and his grandmother, and is now committed to preserving and promoting the education of Nuu Chah Nulth in their traditional language and ways of life. Paul has stated in a recent interview with Steinbrueck Gallery: "I've learned that I need to do as much as I can to keep our culture alive. I've realized if I don't do it now, so much of my family will be losing too much." He is an activist, environmentalist, artist, and knowledge keeper. 

Paul has had an extensive and varied career. He assisted Richard Hunt at the Royal British Columbia Museum’s carving programme at Thunderbird Park in Victoria and became the senior carver there in 1976, overseeing the development of projects in Stanley Park, Vancouver, as well as international projects in England and New Zealand. He also oversaw the development of a Native education program in Port Alberni, and is currently developing an Educational Cultural Language Library. 

Paul’s carvings are known for their faces. His carved expressions seem to be alive with power. He has worked with famous carver Richard Hunt, and had a working relationship with carver John Livingston for forty five years. He has made work for the Captain Cook Museum and the Chilcotin Nation in solidarity after they declared part of their nation as tribal park lands after mining exploits were damaging the wildlife of Fish Lake. Paul is an artist deeply engaged with the issues facing his community, and sees this as the most important part of producing art. When discussing this concept, Paul stated: "I like to remind young folks that the greatest art of all is the art of giving". 

Paul has worked with a variety of different mediums. Encouraged by his family, he learned to paint at the age of ten and now paints using acrylics. He learned carving skills at the Arts of the Raven Gallery in Victoria in 1975. Paul also makes limited edition silkscreen prints of various legends of Nuu Chah Nulth culture. 

Exhibitions

• 1972: The Legacy Exhibition, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 1987: Hands of Creation, Inuit Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1989: Masks, Inuit Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1990: Painted Drums of the Northwest Coast, Inuit Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1994: Life of the Copper, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 1996: Tribal Miniatures: Dreams of Silver and Gold, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 1996: Above and Beyond, Tribal Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1996: Spirits of the Forest, See, and Sky, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 1996: Two Dimensional Show, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 1997: Tribal Miniatures, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 1999: Down From the Shimmering Sky, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2000: Out of the Mist—Treasures of the Nuu-chah-nulth Chiefs, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 2005: Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2, Museum of Art and Design, New York, United States
• 2008: Mini-Masterworks II, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2010: Moon Mothers: Keepers of Knowledge, with June Grant and Lewis Gardiner, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
• 2014-2017: Natural/Supernatural: Nuu-chah-nulth Serigraph Prints, University of Victoria’s Permanent Collection, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 2017: Point of Contact: On Place and the West Coast Imaginary, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 2018: Recent Acquisitions from the Southwest, CN Gorman Museum, University of California, Davis, California, United States
• 2019: Displacement, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Solo Exhibitions:

• 1997: Humwitsa: Teachings and Stories, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 2000: Tim Paul: New Moon, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

Collections

• University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, United States
• Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Windsor Great Park, Windsor, England
• Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California, United States
• Captain Cook Museum, Middleborough, England
• National Film Board, Hull, Quebec, Canada
• Department of Fisheries, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
• Swedish Cultural House, The Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
• House of Humwitsa, Tofino, British Columbia, Canada

Awards

2010: BC Creative Achievement Award for First Nations’ Art