Kwakwaka'wakw art

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Kwakwaka'wakw. Baleen Whale Mask, 19th century. It is known to have one of the most distinctive forms of northwest coast art. Masks like this are owned by a particular person who has inherited the rights to make, wear, and perform with it during potlatch ceremonies, elaborate communal celebrations. The mask is worn along the dancer's back while he imitates the swimming and diving of the whale by manipulating cords to move the flippers, tail, and jaw. Others sing, shake rattles, and drum during the presentation. Such performances reaffirm and validate the owner's rights to their clan's history, honor their ancestors, and bring the mask to life. Brooklyn Museum Kwakwaka'wakw. Baleen Whale Mask, 19th century.jpg
Kwakwaka'wakw. Baleen Whale Mask, 19th century. It is known to have one of the most distinctive forms of northwest coast art. Masks like this are owned by a particular person who has inherited the rights to make, wear, and perform with it during potlatch ceremonies, elaborate communal celebrations. The mask is worn along the dancer’s back while he imitates the swimming and diving of the whale by manipulating cords to move the flippers, tail, and jaw. Others sing, shake rattles, and drum during the presentation. Such performances reaffirm and validate the owner’s rights to their clan’s history, honor their ancestors, and bring the mask to life. Brooklyn Museum
Red cedar totem by chief Tony Hunt Bonn Rheinaue heraldic stake.jpg
Red cedar totem by chief Tony Hunt

Kwakwaka'wakw art describes the art of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of British Columbia. It encompasses a wide variety of woodcarving, sculpture, painting, weaving and dance. Kwakwaka'wakw arts are exemplified in totem poles, masks, wooden carvings, jewelry and woven blankets. Visual arts are defined by simplicity, realism, and artistic emphasis. Dances are observed in the many rituals and ceremonies in Kwakwaka'wakw culture. Much of what is known about Kwakwaka'wakw art comes from oral history, archeological finds in the 19th century, inherited objects, and devoted artists educated in Kwakwaka'wakw traditions.

Sculpture Branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions

Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving and modelling, in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or molded or cast.

Painting Practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used. The final work is also called a painting.

Contents

Artists

Chief Mungo Martin Mmartinpubdom5.JPG
Chief Mungo Martin

The learning of a craft is central to the education of young tribe members. Youths are encouraged to engage in craft work, and are apprenticed to more experienced experts. [1] Some are employed by local chiefs as personal carvers, who are then tasked to produce wooden gifts bearing the house symbols to distribute in potlatch. [2] Wealth from trade resulted in a Golden Age of potlatch art in the late 19th century, [3] but to curb this perceived extravagance, the Canadian government outlawed the potlatch and other ceremonies with the Canadian Indian Act of 1884, [4] which contributed to a decline in artistic production, some say. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, several artists earned their living as carvers in the manner described above, since their work was commissioned by their villages. Once the shock of those participants in the Cranmer potlatch in 1921 wore off and governments were realizing native populations were no longer on the decline, art as a means of earning a living was encouraged - as it had begun to be in Alaska. Some carvers with standing and longevity, and some apprenticed to them later stepped forward to participate in the revival of Kwakwaka'wakw art, including sculptors Dan Cranmer, Chief Willie Seaweed (1873–1967), [5] Charlie James, Chief Mungo Martin [6] (1879–1962) and his wife Abayah's greatgrandsons Tony Hunt (b. 1942) and Richard Hunt (b. 1951). Mary Ebbets Hunt and Abayah Martin, Mungo Martin's wife, [6] were both important artists who produced many woven pieces. Traditionally, women were weavers, but Ellen Neel (1916–1966), Martin's niece, went on to become a noted carver. [7]

Potlatch gift-giving festival and economic system

A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States, among whom it is traditionally the primary economic system. This includes the Heiltsuk, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures. Potlatches are also a common feature of the peoples of the Interior and of the Subarctic adjoining the Northwest Coast, though mostly without the elaborate ritual and gift-giving economy of the coastal peoples.

Willie Seaweed (1873–1967) was a Kwakwaka'wakw chief and wood carver from Canada. He was considered a master Northwest Coast Indian artist who is remembered for his technical artistic style and protection of traditional native ceremonies during the Canadian potlatch ceremony ban. Today, Seaweed's work can be found in cultural centers and corporations, art museums, natural history museums, and private collections. Some pieces are still in use by the Nak'waxda'xw tribe.

Mungo Martin Canadian artist

Chief Mungo Martin or Nakapenkem, Datsa, was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw Aboriginal people who live in the area of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. He was a major contributor to Kwakwaka'wakw art, especially in the realm of wood sculpture and painting. He was also known as a singer and songwriter.

Style

The art of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples is similar to other styles in the realm of Northwest coast art, but with significant differences. Kwakwaka'wakw art can be defined by deep cuts into the wood, and a minimal use of paint reserved for emphasis purposes. Like other forms of Northwest coast art, Kwakwaka'wakw art employs "punning" or "kenning", a style that fills visual voids with independent figures and motifs [8] - for example: a face painted in a whale fin.

Materials

A Kwakwaka'wakw transformation mask made of wood, horsehair and shell. Kwakwaka'wakw transformation mask.jpg
A Kwakwaka'wakw transformation mask made of wood, horsehair and shell.

The materials used in Kwakwaka'wakw art include wood, horn, bark, shell, animal bone and various pigments. For wood, western red cedar ( Thuja plicata ) is preferred for large projects, as it grows in abundance along the Northwest coast. Yellow cedar ( Callitropsis nootkatensis ) was used for smaller objects. The wood is sometimes oiled for smaller carvings. Wood was steamed to make it more pliable. Horn is used to create tools, usually cooking utensils. To do this, the horn is softened by boiling, then bent and carved into the desired shape. For paint, red ochre is used, along with white paste from burnt clamshells and many others. [9]

Wood fibrous material from trees or other plants

Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.

Horn (anatomy) anatomical feature

A horn is a permanent pointed projection on the head of various animals consisting of a covering of keratin and other proteins surrounding a core of live bone. Horns are distinct from antlers, which are not permanent. In mammals, true horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae (pronghorn) and Bovidae.

Bark (botany) external parenchymal tissue, located just below the epidermis in the primary structure of the stem

Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines, and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner bark, which in older stems is living tissue, includes the innermost area of the periderm. The outer bark in older stems includes the dead tissue on the surface of the stems, along with parts of the innermost periderm and all the tissues on the outer side of the periderm. The outer bark on trees which lies external to the last formed periderm is also called the rhytidome.

Tools

Traditionally, tools have been made by the artisans themselves for personal use. Tools include adzes, carving knives, stone axes, stone hammers and paintbrushes. Brushes were sometimes made from porcupine hair. [9] Later, the loom was used to weave blankets and curtains. Some tools were ceremonial, and thus decorated with carvings.

Adze edged, handled woodworking tool

An adze is a cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. They have been used since the stone age. Adzes are used for smoothing or carving wood in hand woodworking. Two basic forms of an adze are the hand adze—a short handled tool swung with one hand—and the foot adze—a long handled tool capable of powerful swings using both hands, the cutting edge usually striking at foot or shin level. A similar, but blunt, tool used for digging in hard ground is called a mattock.

Axe tool or weapon

An axe is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms and specialised uses but generally consists of an axe head with a handle, or helve.

Porcupine rodent with a coat of sharp spines

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that protect against predators. The term covers two families of animals, the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family Erethizontidae. Both families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi within the profoundly diverse order Rodentia and display superficially similar coats of quills: despite this, the two groups are distinct from each other and are not closely related to each other within the Hystricognathi.

Crafts

The crafts of the Kwakwaka'wakw are made out of extensive woodwork, and include a wide variety of objects, from masks, effigies, rattles, storage boxes, food vessels to large totems and house posts. Virtually all crafts are painted to some extent.

Masks

Masks were a vital part of Kwakwaka'wakw art and culture. The mask was crucial in dances in order to portray the character conveyed by the dancer. As such, a wide array of masks exist, depicting mythological beings, animals, forces of nature, and other humans. Some masks are decorated with feathers and "hair", usually represented by animal fur or strips of cedar bark. The following are a select few important types of masks:

Dancers with hamatsa masks, photo by Edward S. Curtis, 1914 Edward Curtis image 8.jpg
Dancers with hamatsa masks, photo by Edward S. Curtis, 1914
Namgis (Native American). Thunderbird Transformation Mask, 19th century. The Thunderbird is believed to be an Ancestral Sky Being of the Namgis clan of the Kwakwaka'wakw, who say that when this bird ruffles its feathers, it causes thunder and when it blinks its eyes, lightning flashes. Brooklyn Museum Namgis (Native American). Thunderbird Transformation Mask, 19th century.jpg
Namgis (Native American). Thunderbird Transformation Mask, 19th century. The Thunderbird is believed to be an Ancestral Sky Being of the Namgis clan of the Kwakwaka’wakw, who say that when this bird ruffles its feathers, it causes thunder and when it blinks its eyes, lightning flashes. Brooklyn Museum
Hamatsa

Hamatsa is the name of a Kwakwaka'wakw secret society. During the winter months the Kwakwaka'wakw of British Columbia have many ceremonies practiced by different secret societies. According to the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas, who studied the Kwakwaka'wakw tribe during the late 1880s, there were four main societies: The war society (Winalagalis), the magical society (Matem), the society of the afterlife (Bakwas) and the "cannibal" society (Hamatsa).

Seabird Birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment

Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene.

Octopus order of molluscs

The octopus is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda. Around 300 species are recognised, and the order is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, the octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beak, with its mouth at the center point of the eight limbs. The soft body can rapidly alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates.

Raven/Sisiutl transformation mask, open, by Oscar Matilpi, Kwakwaka'wakw Nation (1996), in the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Raven Sisutl transformation mask - detail.jpg
Raven/Sisiutl transformation mask, open, by Oscar Matilpi, Kwakwaka'wakw Nation (1996), in the permanent collection of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
A chief's daughter from the Nakoaktok nation. Shown wearing copper headpieces, abalone earrings, nose ring, and inscribed metal bracelets Nakoaktok.jpg
A chief's daughter from the Nakoaktok nation. Shown wearing copper headpieces, abalone earrings, nose ring, and inscribed metal bracelets

Jewelry and metalwork

Jewelry amongst the Kwakwaka'wakw consisted of earrings, bracelets, necklaces, nose rings, lip piercings and more. Abalone shells, stone, ivory and wood were used in jewelry making. Contact with European settlers brought gold and silver, which were hammered into desired shapes. Silver and gold jewelry were often inscribed in patterns and mythological figures. [17] Wooden hairpins have also been found.

Copper in varying sizes was worn on the clothing of high-ranking individuals. Copper is also the term for beaten copper objects, often engraved and shaped like a "T" or a shield. These coppers symbolize great wealth and can be broken into pieces to give away at potlatches. Representations of shield-shaped coppers can be found on Kwakwaka'wakw poles. [18]

Textiles

Textile arts in Kwakwaka'wakw culture are represented by ceremonial curtains, dance aprons, blankets and clothing. Weaving is most often done by women.

The ceremonial curtain, or mawihl, is a painted curtain hung over the entrance to the dressing room used in dance ceremonies. Dancers could disappear behind the curtain as the scene demanded or to change their costumes. The mawihl was typically made from cotton, and painted with the spirit of the dancing house. [19]

Woman with mask, wearing a chilkat blanket. Tluwulahu-Costume.jpg
Woman with mask, wearing a chilkat blanket.

The chilkat blanket was adopted by the Kwakwaka'wakw from the Tlingit and Tsimshian peoples to the north. These blankets are woven on a loom from shredded cedar bark and the wool of mountain goats. [20] Chilkat blankets are heavy and extremely ornate; each taking almost a year to complete. As such, the blankets are highly valued amongst the Northwest coast peoples. The design has traditionally been first painted by a man, and then woven by a woman in accordance with the design. [21] Designs are usually patterned and elaborate, showing a mosaic of ancestors and mythological figures. The fringes of the chilkat blanket are left with flowing threads of wool. A prominent weaver of chilkat blankets was Mary Ebbets Hunt. Hunt was a Tlingit woman who married an Englishman working in the Fort Rupert area, part of Kwakwaka'wakw territory. She had learned to weave from the northern tribes, and despite her reluctance to demonstrate her craft in front of Kwakwaka'wakw women, this technique was eventually passed on to the Kwakwaka'wakw. [21]

Button blankets become prevalent with the advent of the blanket trade. Button blankets or cloaks are brightly colored, usually with a navy blue base and red appliqué of Melton wool. Borders and a central motif, usually a family crest, are decorated with abalone or mother-of-pearl buttons. [21] [22]

Dance aprons and leggings were also worn during ceremonies. The aprons were often decorated with trinkets such as small coppers, puffin beaks, deer hoofs, etc., which produced pleasing sounds while dancing. [21]

Totem and house poles

Painted house by Mungo Martin, with surrounding totem poles. Wawadit'la(Mungo Martin House) a Kwakwaka'wakw big house.jpg
Painted house by Mungo Martin, with surrounding totem poles.

The totem pole is arguably the most complex and grandiose art form in Kwakwaka'wakw culture. Poles are placed outside family houses where they display the family's crests, history, wealth, social rank, inheritance, and privilege. [23] The sequence of characters and symbols sculpted into a totem pole is indicative of past family events, ancestors, myths, and heraldic crests, with the bottom figure usually being the most prominent. [24] The interpretation of the symbols is retold in a semi-legendary form when the pole is first dedicated to a certain house after completion. Kwakwaka'wakw totems are built from red cedar and can range between fifteen and fifty feet tall. The reputation of a pole's maker depended on the quality of his work. The Kwakwaka'wakw style of totem uses more protruding elements than other Northwest coast totems, such as stretching limbs, beaks jutting out, and wings thrust away from the body of the pole. [25] Painting followed a scheme of alternating dark and light colors for contrast. Finally, like other forms of Kwakwaka'wakw art, Kwakwaka'wakw totems display a high emphasis on realism. [25]

House poles are posts supporting the homes of important tribal members. They are commissioned by the future homeowner and built by carvers of the tribe. Kwakwaka'wakw poles are noticeably simpler and bolder in construction, and tend to be thicker and well rounded. [26] House posts depict ancestors, house symbols, and animals such as the sea lion and grizzly bear. A frontal "entrance" pole may be used, and is differentiated by the long opening at the bottom of the pole, and the fact that they are not supporting any part of the roof. [26]

Feast bowl Duwamish Longhouse - feast bowl 01.jpg
Feast bowl

Trinkets and others

A large variety of smaller wooden objects were carved by the Kwakwaka'wakw. These included whistles, rattles, kerfed boxes, effigies, staffs, utensils, ceremonial knives, headdresses, headbands and food vessels.

Painting and graphic art

Painting was traditionally used to decorate carvings and flat surfaces. Drafts for totems, masks and textiles were the first type of Kwakwaka'wakw painting. With the introduction of paper, artists branched into graphic art and produced many notable paintings. Later, local research organizations commissioned artists such as Ray Hanuse to paint interiors and exteriors with Kwakwaka'wakw motifs. [27]

Dance

Dancing around a fire to restore the eclipsed moon Dancing-to-Restore-Eclipsed-Moon.jpg
Dancing around a fire to restore the eclipsed moon

Like other dancing societies of the Pacific Northwest, dance is a central part of Kwakwaka'wakw life, and is found at many rites and ceremonies. The dance is so important that each variety has to be carefully staged and prepared for. Special members of the tribe are designated to survey particular dances to see if they've been performed to satisfaction. Mistakes and poorly conducted dances could mean a loss of social position, or the stiffness of penalties; such as having to host a potlatch to regain prestige. The German anthropologist Franz Boas found a total of fifty-three different characters in Kwakwaka'wakw dance, each of them with a different role.

Tsetseka

Tsetseka ("Supernatural season" or "Winter Ceremonial") is perhaps the most important dancing ritual amongst the Kwakwaka'wakw. [28] The word comes from the Heiltsuk word for "shaman", and is used to refer to winter. The entire season is considered supernatural, and this is to be reflected in every ritual done during this time. The tsetseka dance was elaborately staged and planned by officials with specialized duties. [29] Novices who were to be initiated into the dance were carefully prepared for the ceremony, with instructions on dramatic acting, dancing and proper cries. Intricate props and stage illusions were made ready, from hidden strings and underground tunnels for magic tricks to pounding noise on the roof in a simulation of mythical birds. [29] The entire operation extended beyond the dancing house, as acts were deliberately planned for novices to be initiated into the ceremony. In one instance, a novice appeared to arrive on a canoe, but was drowned in an accident. Later he would be "revived" amidst much celebration. The figure that drowned was actually a wooden carving used to represent the novice. [29] During tsetseka, the entire Kwakwaka'wakw living space became a sort of live theater, in which terror, drama, illusion and comedy were fully exploited to create the atmosphere of the special season.

Tsetseka dancers Group-of-Winter-Dancers.jpg
Tsetseka dancers

The hamatsa ritual was the most important dance in the tsetseka season. The purpose of the performance was to initiate a novice into a hamatsa dancer, the highest rank of dancer. [30] Only individuals who have danced for twelve years through the previous three grades can attempt this accomplishment. [30] The dance requires a large cast of characters, takes a total of four days to finish, and is steeped in ritual and drama. It is based around the legend of the hamatsa, terrible bird-like monsters that fed on human flesh. [30] In the ceremony, the novice is possessed by a hamatsa spirit, and disappears into the woods for four days. While possessed, the novice must dance and cry as if in a frenzy, and interact with the audience in a wild and violent way. After four days, the subject has been ritually tamed until he is "human" again. Achieving this state signifies the novice's acceptance into the dancing society as a full member. [30]

Conceptual art

David Neel (b. 1960), grandson of carver Ellen Neel, is a contemporary Kwakwaka'wakw painter, photographer, printmaker, and multimedia artist. His work demonstrates that Northwest Coastal art can meet the challenge of addressing current sociopolitical issues, for example his prints and masks that deal with land conflicts, radiation, oil spills, clear cutting, and overpopulation. [31]

Notable Kwakwaka'wakw artists

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 5
  2. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 33
  3. ↑ Penney, p. 158
  4. ↑ Penney, p. 157
  5. ↑ Jonaitis, p. 243; Penney, p. 159
  6. 1 2 Jonaitis, p. 242
  7. ↑ Stewart, p. 133
  8. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 20
  9. 1 2 Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 9
  10. ↑ Shearer, p. 54
  11. ↑ Shearer, pp. 40-43
  12. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 185
  13. ↑ Shearer, pp. 17-81
  14. ↑ Shearer, p. 77
  15. 1 2 3 Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 27
  16. 1 2 Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 238
  17. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 173
  18. ↑ Shearer, pp. 30-31
  19. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 87
  20. ↑ Jonaitis, p. 30
  21. 1 2 3 4 Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 159
  22. ↑ Shearer, p. 24
  23. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 70
  24. ↑ Shearer, pp. 105-6
  25. 1 2 Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 72
  26. 1 2 Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 56
  27. ↑ Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 250
  28. ↑ Penney, p. 159
  29. 1 2 3 Hawthorn, A. (1988) p. 39
  30. 1 2 3 4 Hawthorn, A. (1988) pp. 45-46
  31. ↑ Ryan, p. 233

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References

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