Jody Broomfield
Coast Salish (Squamish) Nation
Jody Broomfield was born on September 11, 1976 in North Vancouver, British Columbia. His family comes from the Double-Headed Sea Serpent crest.
Jody has been exposed to traditional Salish art since he was a child and has been practicing as a full-time artist since 1999. Since this time he has worked in a variety of media, including wood, etched glass, metal sculpture, painting, prints, graphic design and jewelry.
He completed an eight year apprenticeship with well-known Coast Salish/ Kwakwaka’wakw artist, Klatle-Bhi. He also assisted on several masks for a potlatch hosted by Chief Frank Baker in Alert Bay, in 2001. Jody is influenced by the work of artists Jordon Seward and Ray Natrall.
In recent years, Jody was commissioned to paint a numbers of large-scale public art murals for public buildings in North Vancouver, West Vancouver, and downtown Vancouver. Some of these places included Carson Graham Secondary School, Keith Lynn Secondary School, Esla7’han Learning Centre, the Squamish Nation Youth Centre, Squamish-Lil’wat Cultural Centre, West Vancouver Community Centre, the Vancouver Convention Centre. In September 2009, the City of North Vancouver honoured Jody with the Public Art Award of Excellence.
Again in 2009, Jody was given the opportunity to collaborate with Tom Lee Music and the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities. In doing so, Jody’s contribution was to create an original custom design and paint it to a donated grad piano. The piece was auctioned off to the highest bidder for $500,000. Part of the proceeds was donated to the BC Lions Society.
The Vancouver Organization Committee (VANOC) chose Jody’s Four Host First Nations logo to be used for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, marking a milestone in his career as an artist. This design would also be used by the Royal Canadian Mint on a limited edition $75 dollar gold coin. Following the win, the Mint collaborated with Jody again on four additional limited edition collectable gold and silver coins.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2011 Coast Salish Masterworks: Connecting the Past to the Present, Coastal Peoples Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.