Born and raised on southern Vancouver Island, author/artist Jim Gilbert had a lifetime of exposure to, and experience with, Pacific Northwest Coast aboriginal art. For the past thirty years, Jim had been a serious student of the culture, heritage and art of the coastal First Nations people. Jim also learned from his father, Harry Gilbert (1898 - 1967), who painted and carved in the Native style. A versatile and award winning artist, Jim worked in all mediums in both traditional and contemporary art styles. All his designs are original, using centuries-old conventional design elements, structure and colour. His artworks can be found in collections worldwide.

In the two-volume publication, Learning by Designing Pacific Northwest Coast Native Indian Art, companion for the previously published Learning by Doing Northwest Coast Native Indian Art, Jim shares his passion and respect for the art form and passes on his own training, understanding, skill, and experience with traditional art apprenticeship methods. Jim’s understanding of effective methods of passing on artistic knowledge and skills is partly the result of experience gained while teaching First Nations art in Victoria public schools and through giving workshops and seminars. Jim also used his artistic skills to create over fifteen hundred original illustrations for the two volumes of Learning by Designing as well as illustrating Learning by Doing.

Jim’s long association with many First Nations artists working in all of the four art styles represented in these books, along with his qualifications as a biologist, teacher, artist and author make him uniquely suited to be involved in the production of this extensive, working guide and reference book on the aboriginal art of the Pacific Northwest Coast.