PROFILE A Dream Attained

A Dream Attained Dylan Thomas, Victoria’s Newest Indigenous Artist in Residence

By Julie Ovenell, Communications Specialist

Dylan Thomas fondly remembers playing a crude form of Pictionary with his dad when he was just three years old: “I’d draw something until he guessed what it was. I think it’s fair to say that art has been a part of my entire life.”

It’s a long way from dining-table doodles to gallery-worthy graphics, and the path wasn’t always clear to the 34-year-old Coast Salish artist also known as Qwul’thilum. But in late 2019, what had once seemed an “unattainable dream” became very real: the City of Victoria named Thomas its newest Indigenous Artist in Residence.

A member of the Lyackson First Nation, he grew up in Victoria. At 13, he left childhood friends behind to attend Shoreline School’s Indigenous art program. Always a keen illustrator, Thomas had planned to attend Emily Carr University to become a graphic designer. “But I didn’t put enough work into my portfolio, so I decided to wait a year and make a better effort.”

Fate intervened when Thomas’s father connected him with Kwakwaka’wakw artist Rande Cook. He began making jewellery under Cook’s tutelage, and by 2006 he was apprenticed full-time to the senior artist who, he says, “completely changed my mind-frame.”

“I thought art was all big visions, but Rande said, ‘No, it’s about the details.’ He taught me about weight, balance, flow—all those general aesthetic principals. If your design fundamentals are strong, you can work in

any medium—I’ve done sandblasting and carving and relief-cut metal!—and still be true to the lineage of the tradition. Rande was patient with me. I wouldn’t be an artist today without him.”

It was also Cook who introduced Thomas to the Royal BC Museum database, which he now uses regularly to research Coast Salish artifacts and seek inspiration for his acclaimed artwork.

“It’s the bread and butter of my learning

process. I look at old artifacts every day. I want to use it to make public art that honours the culture and people of the Lekwungen. I want to tap into the deep history here: what motifs and legends are from this area? This is the stuff I love.

“It’s been hard sometimes, but I’m glad I stuck with it and kept studying and producing. The last couple of years, I’ve really started to believe. And I’m really looking forward to helping develop the relationship between local First Nations and the city over the next two years as part of the reconciliation effort.”

Dylan Thomas created the iconic logo for Orcas: Our Shared Future, the exciting new feature exhibition opening May 15, 2020, at the Royal BC Museum. Learn more at rbcm.ca/orcas. His work also graces the cover of the recently published Indigenous Repatriation Handbook.

SEE MORE OF DYLAN’S WORK

@salish_artist_dylan_thomas

/dylandthomasartist