鈥淯nbelievable, inspiring, grounding, and very exciting.鈥�

That鈥檚 how artist Roy Henry Vickers described the experience of creating cover art for some of the Grateful Dead鈥檚 newest collections.

The 72-year-old from Hazelton said he has been working as an artist for 44 years. For the past year-and-a-half he has been collaborating with Rhino Records on the album covers for the rock band.

鈥淢y biographer, [Robert (Lucky) Budd], is an archivist; he used to work for the B.C. Provincial Museum, and his buddy is the archivist for The Grateful Dead. So when I met him the idea began to form, and I suppose that鈥檚 how I got to be the artist,鈥� he said.

鈥淚 used the electronic medium. I draw in a Macromedia freehand program on my computer, so all of the images are drawn by hand on the computer. Those images then were sent off to Rhino Records, and we鈥檝e been doing this back and forth for almost a year-and-a-half.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 been very difficult. I鈥檝e had to sit on this for a year and not say anything to anybody, so I鈥檓 glad the press release is out and I can start talking about this,鈥� Vickers confessed.

To purchase the collections, he recommends visiting the band鈥檚 official website at dead.net.

Vickers is now continuing work on some of his other projects. He said he is currently working on 鈥渢he biggest project of [his] life鈥�.

鈥淚f you go to [the 鈥楬osumdas 鈥� Documentary Project鈥� page on Facebook] you will see the story unfolding of this massive totem that I鈥檓 doing. It鈥檚 being done very traditionally in that I am paying and working with other carvers to get this totem done, and then giving it to my family. It鈥檚 one of those traditional pieces that people don鈥檛 get to do very often.鈥�

He also said he and biographer Robert (Lucky) Budd are working on a set of books featuring 鈥渟tories from the Skeena River and the north country鈥�.

鈥淭here鈥檚 always something going,鈥� he said.

To view some of his recent artwork, visit , or stop by the Roy Henry Vickers Gallery next the time you鈥檙e in Tofino.

鈥淚 would just like to say to any of the artists out there that talent is wonderful,鈥� Vickers added, 鈥渂ut without hard work talent is just talent. It just sits there. What you can do with creativity is just work hard, and the harder you work the better things are.鈥�

READ MORE:

newsroom@thenorthernview.com
Like us on and follow us on