Cole Speck

Kwakwaka’wakw artist Cole Speck was born in 1991 and raised on the ‘Namgis reserve in Alert Bay that has produced many talented Kwakwaka’wakw artists. He descends from the late Chief John Speck of the Tlowitsis, father of the late Henry Speck Sr., and is also a great-grandson of the late Harry Hanuse of Mamalalaka. 

Cole Speck apprenticed under renowned master carver Wayne Alfred and was also mentored by, and a senior apprentice to the late Beau Dick, celebrated artist, activist, and master carver. Cole assisted Beau Dick in carving the Pat Alfred Memorial Pole in 2010 and more recently, Speck’s ‘Beaver in a Hudson Bay Bag’ (2019) debuted at White Columns, New York as part of Beau Dick’s traveling solo exhibition Devoured by Consumerism.

Cole Speck has also had his work featured in Vancouver at the RezErect exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery in 2013, and at the Museum of Anthropology’s Claiming Space exhibition in 2014.