ARTIST SPOTLIGHT!

Bill Kuhnley, Jr. was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1967 and is a proud member of the Ditidaht/Nuu-chah-nulth Canadian First Nations tribe. Growing up on the western side of Vancouver Island, Bill began his career in the forest industry before moving to the Duncan Heritage Center, where he worked as a carver for three seasons.

Encouraged by his parents from an early age, Bill has been creating art for over 35 years. Throughout his career, he has had the privilege of collaborating with various artists and mastering different carving techniques. His detailed works have been showcased in select galleries and are part of collections worldwide. Bill enjoys exploring a variety of art styles and mediums, including wood, canvas, sheep horn, and metal repoussé.

NEW BILL KUHNLEY, JR. PAINTINGS

“These rectangular canvas shapes allowed me the opportunity to display the importance of design and animal crests in family society and social roles of identity. Houses usually displayed the animal crests of its occupants. Here I have chosen Bear, Whale, and Eagle.”

-Bill Kuhnley, Jr.

Box Elements--Problem Solver reflects on the ways in which artists must face and deal with challenges that arise throughout the creative process. Bill explains that working in formline design comes with particular challenges wherein the act of solving the balance and fit is the key to making a piece work. Many artists have an idea of what they want to create, but transforming that into a reality often takes multiple iterations. He describes visualizing the design as a process “like taking a photo in our mind of what we want to create, but it often needs to be reworked numerous times before getting it right." Problem Solvers was born out of multiple rough drawings of a Thunderbird bursting through the clouds, hunting. “Anyone can create an ovoid or a u-shape. It's going beyond that where the creativity begins,” Kuhnley, Jr. states. “It’s all about formline, but it can relate to anything in daily life when life tests us.”