Haida Art
Modern Art: The Raven and The First Men Sculpture by Bill Reid
The sculpture is made of 106 pieces of yellow cedar wood. The story goes...
One day Raven was flying over Rose Spit Beach when he saw a calm shell start to jump around. He flew down to take a look to find out what was going on. When he finally got down, he saw in the calm shell a few featherless birds. These were the first Haida Gwaii men. Raven then pried the men out of the shell. Raven taught them how to hunt, cook, build shelter and how to cloth themselves.
The sculpture shows how some men wanted to escape from the clam shell while others wanted to stay inside.
Back of The Raven and The First Men Sculpture.
Traditional Haida Art: Totem Poles
If you have ever seen a Totem Pole before, you will notice that there are animals and humans on top of each other. Well, there is a reason that the animals are there. Each of the animals represents a Haida spirit.
Totem poles were found at the front of longhouses or on their own. Each totem pole represents a clans crest and social status of the family. Totem poles were normally painted black, red, blue and sometimes white and yellow. Totem poles with a bird on the top were the house of the Chief.
Haida Totem Pole