1928-2015 – Although art making was a constant for him, Bill Dixon also worked as a United Church minister and psychiatric social worker, living in numerous places across western Canada. After his first year as a United Church minister, he took a year off to work on a fine arts degree at the Winnipeg School of Art.
Dixon painted eight murals in his lifetime. Over 40 years ago, he painted a mural in Sooke, BC that illustrates how the logging industry has been a part of Vancouver Island history. In 2023, artists Diego Narvaez, Shelley Davies from the T’Sou-ke Nation and Micah McCarty of the Pacheedaht Nation collaborated to renew the mural. They aim to pay tribute to Dixon’s contributions, safeguard the iconic image representing Sooke’s past, and offer a glimpse into the future of the forests. As representatives of both the T’Sou-ke and Pacheedaht nations, Davies and McCarty will lead the content of the part of the mural to be renewed. Bill Dixon died at the age of 87 in Grand Forks, BC.
