Arctic Wolf

About Arctic Wolf

With this striking image, Rick Rivet has captured the fierce face of a wolf—eyes focused on the viewer, jaw open to reveal rows of jagged teeth. The Métis artist is known for his colourful, bold and expressive contemporary paintings that can be found in collections throughout North America.
This piece is rendered in a rich, earthy colour palette of brown, blue, red and white set against a deep blue-green sky. Wolves have traditionally been feared, revered and mythologized. In many Indigenous cultures, the wolf is viewed as intelligent—a dominant animal that symbolizes courage, strength and leadership.

"When I was growing up in the North, I thought that animals were no less important than other life forms in the cosmos.” Rick Rivet

Richard James Rivet was born in Aklavik in the Northwest Territories in a Métis family. He grew up on the land and his family lived by trapping, hunting and fishing. Rivet has four degrees from three universities. He completed his MFA at the U. of Saskatchewan in 1989 and began creating art full-time. Rivet has been the recipient of more than twenty awards, scholarships and bursaries including a Fellowship from the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, and the Andy Warhol Foundation Fellowship Residency Program for the Heard Museum in Phoenix. His work is held in private, corporate, and public collections in Canada and the US.