Portrait of First Black NHL Player Unveiled at Beaverbrook Art Gallery

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The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is unveiling a portrait honouring New Brunswick hockey icon Willie O'Ree, the first Black player in the NHL.

It shows O'Ree in his Boston Bruins jersey and was the cover image for O'Ree's recent autobiography, Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player.

The painting by Tim Okamura, who grew up in the Edmonton area, will be unveiled Wednesday evening at the Fredericton gallery.

It measures five feet by five feet and was donated by an anonymous donor, the gallery says.

The ceremony takes place on the 65th anniversary of O'Ree's first NHL game in 1958.

O'Ree, who played 45 games for the Bruins over two seasons, scoring four goals and 10 assists, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018. He now lives in California.

Okamura, who is based in Brooklyn, earned a BFA at what was then the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. He then headed to the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he earned his MFA.

He is known for painting BIPOC subjects in urban settings and for combining graffiti and realism.

His work has been featured in London's National Portrait Gallery, and was invited to the White House in 2015 when artists who address social justice issues were honoured. 

For more information, go here.

Source: Beaverbrook Art Gallery