N.B. student recreates ‘iconic’ Bill Reid print with thousands of Legos

A Saint Andrews high school student has recreated a popular Haida art piece with 15,000 pieces of Lego with hopes of working for the Danish toy giant after graduation.

The piece, a recreation of Bill Reid’s “Haida Dog Salmon – Skaagi,” took Henry Campbell over 50 hours to construct over a span of more than five months.

Campbell, who’s in Grade 11 at Sir James Dunn Academy, hopes the piece will get him close to his dream of designing Lego sets.

“I’d love to work for Lego … just the idea of getting to handle Lego bricks all day every day for my job seems pretty awesome,” said Campbell.

The art project was part of a personal interest course Campbell did with the guidance of vice-principal Audrey Norman. The course allowed Campbell to work on a career-planning project throughout the semester.

WATCH | ‘I teared up when I saw it hanging in the art gallery,’ teacher says:

Grade 11 student recreates artist Bill Reid’s Haida Dog Salmon with Lego bricks

Henry Campbell’s Lego recreation of Bill Reid’s piece took more than five months and 15,000 pieces to build.

Norman proposed the project thinking they’d do something “very Canadian” with Lego.

Then they both discovered a mutual appreciation in Haida art and the formline style.

“I have a personal love for Haida art. It’s very West Coast, but it’s a very cultural piece of Canada and so Henry … instantly gravitated towards the idea,” said Norman.

The formline style includes curvy lines and shapes. It’s was developed by the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest and is used on totem poles, for example.

Reid created the original Haida Dog Salmon print in the 1970s before his death in 1998. He was a celebrated Haida artist from British Columbia who helped popularize the formline style with prints, sculptures and carvings.

Before Campbell started his project, he contacted the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver for permission to recreate the design.

Eventually Reid’s estate gave Campbell the go-ahead, and they were impressed with his final product.

“One of the comments in particular, actually, we got from Bill Reid’s widow, Martine Reid and she was just like, blown away with the recreation,” said Aliya Boubard, the gallery’s curator.

Boubard said her team was really happy with Campbell’s piece. She said the Dog Salmon is an “iconic” Bill Reid print.

“I think for such a young person, and especially somebody from the East Coast, to be so inspired by it was really amazing to see,” said Boubard.

“It was really such an amazing depiction.”

She was impressed by Campbell’s ability to execute the formline style with Lego since it involves curvy lines.

Boubard said it’s not very often that someone gets permission to recreate a Bill Reid piece due to copyright, but everyone was enthusiastic about Campbell’s idea.

Norman was surprised by Campbell’s final product as well.

“I teared up when I saw it hanging in the art gallery at Sunbury Shores because I couldn’t believe the creativity that Henry put into it. And the end result was just phenomenal. Extremely, extremely well done.”

Campbell’s Skaagi interpretation was displayed at the Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre gallery in Saint Andrews along with the work of other students.

“I didn’t realize how much traction my piece was getting because … I was there for about an hour just talking to people about it who liked it and enjoyed it,” said Campbell.

Campbell said there has even been interest from buyers, which he hasn’t decided on. He said he’d talk to Reid’s representatives before considering that.

For now, Campbell is also learning Danish so if he works at Lego headquarters in Denmark, he’ll already know the language. He plans on applying for a job next year while he’s still in high school.

If he doesn’t land a job with Lego, he’s interested in attending an arts school.