HAIDA ART

I am descended from a North Coast tribe of Native Americans called Haida.  My People come from the Canadian islands of Queen Charlotte and Prince of Wales, and my great + Grandfather was named Chief Sonnihat. I have always embraced this heritage and grew up imagining that I was an Indian Princess.  (Well, he was a chief.)  I love the art of the Haidas' and I am not the only one.  It is on display in great museums around the world including the Smithsonian. The ancient people were known for their beautiful totem poles, long houses, carved boxes, masks, silver work and basketry. Thankfully their unique kind of artwork has not died out and is being taught and produced today.
When I decided to study the design elements of Haida art, I was overwhelmed by the beauty and cunning of it. I have a reverence for its simplicity and its complexity. I have done some designs for a school and my children but when my son asked me to do a painting on a piece of wood that he could hang in his home, I admit I was daunted.  This was a couple of years ago and I am ashamed and proud to announce that I have completed it.  Happy Birthday, Adam!

Because Haida art is so complex it has taken me quite awhile to design  something I thought worthy of my culture. I thought I might walk you through the process it took me to produce this piece.
Each person in the Haida tribe has an animal spirit.  My 1st instinct was that Adam's was the Raven, a cunning trickster who stole the sun and brought fire to man. Then I argued with myself for awhile assigning him other animal spirits. Yet I always came back to Raven.

I couldn't actually do the full design until I had the piece of wood that it was going to be painted on, but I played with ideas for heads and wings and feathers and feet. Oh there were many, many, many drawings.

Finally I bought the wooden plank from a man on the island who builds beautiful natural furniture.  The piece spoke to me about a bird.  I have lived with that piece of wood for about 2 years and finally I was ready to paint it.





I started with my pencil sketches, then traced the shape of wood onto a large piece of paper accounting, I thought, for the knots. I did several rough sketches and then a formal one which I traced onto the wood. I had to redesign because I wanted the wood's beautiful skin to show.

The natural knot between his beak is the sun he is stealing.

Then I started painting.  I completed the1st layer in black, but needed to give the paint a 2nd coat. Then I did 

the red layer. 

This is the completed piece.  I hope you will notice that the positive spaces are a design as well as the negative spaces.  I like to believe that I did justice to the beautiful organic form of the wood and let it tell the story of Raven stealing the sun.