William Ronald Reid Jr. was a Haida artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is regarded as one of the most significant Northwest Coast artists of the late twentieth century.
The Haida are an Indigenous group who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii, an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years.
Totem poles are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large trees, mostly western red cedar, by First Nations and Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast including northern Northwest Coast Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian communities in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth communities in southern British Columbia, and the Coast Salish communities in Washington and British Columbia.
Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between 55–125 km (34–78 mi) off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Hecate Strait. Queen Charlotte Sound lies to the south, with Vancouver Island beyond. To the north, the disputed Dixon Entrance separates Haida Gwaii from the Alexander Archipelago in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Masterfully designed canoes of many sizes and forms were made on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. They were the main form of transportation for the indigenous people of the area until long after European colonization. In recent years, the craft of canoe-making has been revived, and a few have been built by a number of the native nations, Like those made in traditional times, they have proved eminently seaworthy.
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area, and Haida Heritage Site, usually referred to simply as Gwaii Haanas, is located in southernmost Haida Gwaii, 130 kilometres off the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Gwaii Haanas protects an archipelago of 138 islands, the largest being Moresby Island and the southernmost being Kunghit Island. "Gwaii Haanas" means "Islands of Beauty" in X̱aayda kíl, a southern dialect of the Haida language.
Skidegate is a Haida community in Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, Canada. It is on the southeast coast of Graham Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and is approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of mainland British Columbia across Hecate Strait.
Daajing Giids, known as Queen Charlotte City from 1891–2022, is a village municipality in the Haida Gwaii archipelago in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southern end of Graham Island at Skidegate Inlet and is a member municipality of the North Coast Regional District.
Charles Edenshaw was a Haida artist from Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. He is known for his woodcarving, argillite carving, jewellery, and painting. His style was known for its originality and innovative narrative forms, created while adhering to the principles of formline art characteristic of Haida art. In 1902, the ethnographer and collector Charles F. Newcombe called Edenshaw “the best carver in wood and stone now living.”
Haida argillite carvings are a sculptural tradition among the Haida indigenous nation of the Northwest Coast of North America. It first became a widespread art form in the early 19th century, and continues today.
Anthony Island is an island located in the southern part of Haida Gwaii, off the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, to the west of Kunghit Island, the archipelago's southernmost. Anthony Island is noted for being the location of the ruins of SkungWai or SG̱ang Gwaay Llnaagay, commonly called Ninstints after the reigning mid-19th Century chief there. SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay was a major village of the Kunghit Haida people.
SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay, commonly known by its English name Ninstints, is a village site of the Haida people and part of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site on Haida Gwaii on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada.
The Kayung totem pole is a 12-metre (39 ft) totem pole made by the Haida people. Carved and originally located in the village of Kayung on Graham Island in British Columbia, Canada, it dates from around 1850. In 1903 it was sold by Charles Frederick Newcombe to the British Museum, where since 2007 it has been a prominent exhibit in the Great Court.
The Nisg̱aʼa Museum is a museum of the Nisg̱aʼa people, located in Lax̱g̱altsʼap, a village in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The Nisg̱aʼa name means "the heart of Nisg̱aʼa House crests," a name that celebrates the role of tribal crests in Nisg̱aʼa society. The museum is a project of the Nisg̱aʼa Lisims Government and opened in the spring of 2011. It is a place for display of Nisg̱aʼa artifacts, sharing traditions and ideas, and a centre for research and learning. The museum's collection of Nisg̱aʼa culture is "one of the preeminent collections of Northwest Coast aboriginal art" The museum's website states: "This is our gift to each other, our fellow Canadians and the world."
James Hart is a Canadian and Haida artist and a chief of the Haida Nation.
Hlk'yah G̱awG̱a, also known as Windy Bay, is located on Athlii Gwaii in southern Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. The site was historically the location of a Haida village named Hlk'yah Llnagaay, meaning Peregrine Falcon Town in English. In the 1980s, Hlk'yah G̱awG̱a was the focus of a series of lawsuits and protests opposing clearcut logging on the island. These demonstrations were the impetus for the signing of the Gwaii Haanas Agreement of 1993 and the creation of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site.
Tanu is a traditional Haida village site located on Tanu Island, Haida Gwaii, opposite of Kung'a Island in Laskeek Bay, within the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site.
Kiusta located on Haida Gwaii is the oldest Northern Haida village: and the site of first recorded contact between the Haida and Europeans in 1774. Haida lived in this village for thousands of years, due to the sheltered nature of its location it was used for boats offloading, especially in rough waters. Kiusta is one of the oldest archeological sites of human use in British Columbia, and continues to be a site for cultural revitalisation.
Chaatl, also spelled Cha'atl, Tsaa'ahl, Tts’aa’ahl, and other variations, was a historic Haida village located on the shore of Chaatl Island, facing south across Buck Channel to the western side of northern Moresby Island, near the western end of Skidegate Channel, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. Across Buck Channel from Chaatl was the long-abandoned village site of Niisii. There were close connections between Chaatl and the nearby village of Kaisun, about 10 km (6.2 mi) to the south in a straight line, or about 20 km (12 mi) by water.
The Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program encourages young Haida to work alongside elders to protect and teach visitors about Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. The program is co-managed by the Council of the Haida Nation and Parks Canada. The Watchmen ensure that Haida cultural, historical, and natural tourism stays in the hands of the Haida people. The program consists of 2-4 Watchmen who live and work as guardians, watching over each site in Gwaii Haanas. Three human figure with traditional Haida hats represent the Haida Watchmen.
