Stunning Orca panel features a killer whale in a both traditional and abstract form. Yellow cedar is highlighted with bold black, cinnabar red and medium green. Outstanding carving quality. A powerful piece. Measures 15 x 11 x 1 inches, $1100.

This artist is a member of a very famous carving family. He is of the Squamish Nation which consists of descendants of the Coast Salish Aboriginal peoples, originating from the greater Vancouver area, Gibson’s Landing and Squamish River watershed.

This young artist’s style is a blend of strong family Kwakwaka’wakw art styles, with unique personal taste towards contemporary inspirations.

Kwakwaka’wakw oral history says their ancestors (ʼnaʼmima) came in the forms of animals by way of land, sea, or underground. When one of these ancestral animals arrived at a given spot, it discarded its animal appearance and became human. Animals that figure in these origin myths include the Thunderbird, his little brother Kolas, the seagull, orca, grizzly bear, or chief ghost. Some ancestors have human origins and are said to come from distant places.

The first documented contact with Europeans was with Captain George Vancouver in 1792. Disease, which developed as a result of direct contact with European settlers along the West Coast of Canada, drastically reduced the Indigenous Kwakwaka’wakw population during the late 19th-early 20th century. Kwakwaka’wakw population dropped by 75% between 1830 and 1880. The 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic alone killed over half of the people.