EAGLE/HUMAN TRANSFORMATION MASK

Red cedar, cedar bark hair, 15" x 11" x 15"

This is a crest mask representing the Eagle clan. I am a member of the Lax Skeek, or Eagle clan. The Eagle clan is one of the four principle clan groups of the Tsimshian nation. The Tsimshian have an extremely complex social organization; for example, there are well over two dozen sub-crests pertaining and belonging to the Eagle clan. The Eagle transforming into Human mask is an image I have done numerous times because of the limitless expressions that can be captured. For this reason it has become one of my favourite characters to carve, and one for which I will never be able to make all the possible versions. The protrusion on the forehead of this version represents the supernatural ability to transform. The wood for this mask came from a red cedar that measured seven feet in diameter at the base. The grain of the wood was beautiful, and I wanted it to be a feature of the final mask. Therefore, I let the grain flow through the image, and I limited the paint, finally framing the image in straight golden cedar bark.

SOLD