AMOS PATRICK

Patrick Amos was born in Friendly Cove on Nootka Island near the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia in 1957. He is from the Hesquiat Band of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth nation. He attended Christie Residential School on Meares Island before moving to Victoria where he met other native artists.
Since 1976, Patrick has been creating designs with Northwest Coast motifs for limited edition serigraph prints. In 1979 he began carving wood, apprenticing with Tony Hunt Sr. at the Art of the Raven Gallery, in Victoria, BC. Later, he apprenticed with Tim Paul at the Royal British Columbia Museum carving shed in Victoria, where he assisted in totem pole projects. He is an outstanding graphic artist. Fine workmanship can be seen on the detailed drawings on his painted drums. His late grandmothers, Hilda Amos and Mable David carved miniature model totem poles. Patrick believes that he inherited his carving skill from his grandmothers.
Over the years, Patrick Amos has become a renowned carver of the West Coast. He carves carefully incised lines in his masks and adorns his work with braided cedar bark and detailed painting.
Patrick Amos has had several young native artists under his tutelage. His son, Ryand and Buddy George have been carving with Patrick for the past several years. Increasingly Patrick Amos is being commissioned for larger works and he now takes on apprentices to assist with these projects. He is also very active within his community, frequently hosting carving demonstrations in local schools in Port Alberni, and teaching a native art class in Ucluelet.