This large red cedar First Nations Articulated Raven Mask is masterfully and deeply carved in a traditional manner. Measures 21 x 19 x 5 and is priced at $2650. Red cedar rope surrounds the edges.

Hand-worked red cedar bark strips form a panel at the throat and more cedar bark forms the topknot. Articulated “clapper” style beak opens and closes with a string line which can be repositioned and held open or closed for display as you prefer.

Hand-worked red cedar bark traditionally is dried out after pulling it from the tree in the spring. A lengthy process using hand tools softens and shreds the bark so that artwork adornment, clothing, and regalia can be made from it. In times past, these tools traditionally were either made of yew wood or whale bone.

The artist, a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations, was born 1950 in Kingcome Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. The Kwakwaka’wakw people occupy the lower central region of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

He carves in yellow and red cedar wood. He lives now on Vancouver Island and teaches basic carving skills to elementary school children. He is a very well known and very well liked Northwest Coast Native artist who is preserving the carving traditions of his people.

The four laws that govern Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations people are:

• Respect for All of Creation: equality of humans, animals and the earth “all of creation”
• Maintenance of a Strong Spirituality
• The Value of a Relationship with our people and other Nations
• Bringing forth “the Gift of the Self”: an individual is connected to the community through what one brings to it.

Mischievous and curious, the Raven plays many important roles in Pacific Northwest Coast Culture. For some, he symbolizes creation, transformation, knowledge, prestige as well as the complexity of nature and the subtlety of truth. He also symbolizes the unknown and shows that every person sees the world in a different way. The Raven was often called upon to clarify truths in visions, as the wise elders knew that what the eye sees is not always the truth.

Many people of the Pacific Northwest Coast refer to him as a helper to the creator, and it is believed by some that messages from the creator of the cosmos are buried in the wings of the Raven only to be released to the families most deserving of his knowledge. The Raven is a long-distance healer and is known as the “keeper of secrets,” he helps us in our lives by exposing the truth of keeping secrets that could potentially harm us, in doing so he helps us back to good health. The Raven was only ever feared if abused.