According to eminent French anthropologist Levi-Strauss, Reid "brought Northwest Coast art to the world scene, into dialogue with the whole of mankind." In this artistic biography, Karen Duffek gives an account of Bill Reid's life and work and of his role as artist, innovator, and ambassador of Haida art. After describing the processes by which Reid came to reconstruct the formal rules of a complex artistic tradition, Duffek focuses on his mastery of new techniques, particularly in making jewellery, techniques which others now emulate. In the key chapter "Beyond the Essential Form," she uses Reid's own categories of his work as "copies, adaptations and explorations," to give a candid appraisal of his artistic achievements -- from massive poles to gold boxes, from intricate bracelets to the great bronze Killerwhale statue.

Karen Duffek is the Curator of Contemporary Visual Arts and Pacific Northwest at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia. Her research focus lies both in the history of MOA's Northwest Coast Aboriginal collections — including connecting and documenting historical objects with descendants and originating community members — and in the relationship of twentieth-century and contemporary art to cultural practice. Her publications include the books Bill Reid and Beyond: Expanding on Modern Native Art (co-edited with Charlotte Townsend-Gault, 2004) and The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First Nations (co-authored with Bill McLennan, 2000).

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