MERVYN CHILD

– MERVYN CHILD –

Kwaguł, 1955–

Mervyn Child is a Kwaguł (Kwakwaka’wakw) master carver from T’sakis (Fort Rupert), British Columbia. He comes from a distinguished family of Northwest Coast artists and is a descendant of renowned Kwakwaka’wakw carver Mungo Martin through his mother, Mildred Child. Child began learning through his family and community traditions and, in 1984, formally apprenticed at the Copper Maker Gallery in Fort Rupert under his uncle Calvin Hunt. His practice is deeply rooted in Kwakwaka’wakw cultural traditions and encompasses masks, feast bowls, rattles, panels, canoes, and monumental poles.

Working primarily in red cedar, Child draws upon traditional Kwakwaka’wakw formline design, supernatural beings, crests, and ceremonial narratives. He has played an important role in the revival of Northwest Coast canoe building, collaborating with Calvin Hunt and others on major canoes, including the 32-foot Maxwalaogwa, which participated in the 1993 Quatuwas Canoe Gathering.

Child’s work is held in collections including the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami, and the Museum Art & History in Brussels. The Lowe holds a ten-foot cedar totem pole made by Child in collaboration with Calvin Hunt and Tom Hunt, while his work in Brussels includes a monumental totem pole and four masks created for the 1999 exhibition Indian Summer. His work has also been presented in exhibitions including Masters of Vancouver Island & Beyond: The Todd Collection at Stonington Gallery in 2019.