Beyond Robson | Vancouver Blog

June 13, 2006

The first thing you see upon entering the RAVEN TRAVELLING: TWO CENTURIES OF HAIDA ART exhibit, is a familiar image for many people in Vancouver. It is "Raven and the First Men", a boxwood carving by Bill Reid and it is tiny. There is a much larger one carved out of yellow cedar at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, but nevertheless, the image resonates. Haida art is known the world over for its striking red/black formline designs and stylized shapes, and we are certainly lucky to have such an abundance of it at our fingertips. I do think, though, that there is a tendancy to discount it. I know I have been guilty of passing over several galleries in Vancouver with a detrimental "seen one, seen 'em all" attitude, so I was really looking forward to seeing this exhibit, and to rekindling an interest in the Haida culture and art. It is the first time such a large exhibit has been assembled so close to the place of their creation, Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands) and the result of a lot of hard work on the part of the collaborators, Haida and non-Haida alike. One piece, a raven transformation mask (not the one pictured above), has been in Oxford for years and this is the first time it has been back to Canada. After the exhibit, it will go back to Haida Gwaii to be danced in a ceremony before returning to England.

A quick recap on the Haida, because Grade 4 Social Studies was a long time ago: The Haida are a people native to the Queen Charlotte Islands, or Haida Gwaii. Their carpentry and weaving skills were so advanced that they made huge dugout canoes out of red cedar trees; bent-boxes out of a single plank of wood (bent in a square to be pinned or nailed at one corner only) and baskets and hats woven so tightly out of spruce root that they were watertight. Traditionally, all of these types of objects are beautifully decorated and there are many examples on display in this exhibit, but even though a lot of skill and creativity go into the making of them, the Haida have no specific word for art. It is integrated into daily use or ritual and ceremony, so there is no need to distinguish it. One of the masks is even missing from the exhibit temporarily because it was needed to be danced in a ceremony. At the time of contact with the Europeans (around 1774), it was discovered that they could trade argilite (a soft silvery grey stone) carvings and kitchen utensils, etc, for things like oil paints and buttons, and so only then did those kinds of objects start appearing.

There are more than 200 objects in the exhibit, many by unknown artists, but also including masters such as Charles and Isabella Edenshaw, John Cross, Simeon Stihlda, Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, Isabel Rorick and others, both contemporary and traditional. A lot of thought has been given to the organizing of pieces. Charles Edenshaw's Raven Transformation mask (mentioned in the text above) is set next to his descendant's, Jim Hart's, mask of the same name. Because this mask has been in England, Hart was inspired to create his own after seeing a picture of the original. Similarly, Bill Reid was inspired to create his "Spirit of Haida Gwaii" at the airport, based on a small argilite carving here, so there is really a sense of continuation in the art. Then the pieces proceed more of less chronologically from Traditional to "The Silent Years", the time of colonization when the Haida were prohibted from creating anything to do with the potlach or ritual ceremony, through to the "New Directions" and contemporary art pieces. A heavy emphasis is on the Haida stories, which naturally fill their art with meaning, but which I was interested to learn, are intellectual copyright, property of the Haida. Consequently the guide couldn't really tell them to us, but there is a listening room where you can sit and here them, then take those stories around the gallery with you.

The show will be on until Sept, 17th. If you want a quick brush up on Haida culture, I would recommend taking the tour.
Image is "Raven Transformation Mask", 1985 by Jim Hart, courtesy of the VAG