Willie Seaweed (1873 – 1967) was a ’Nak’waxda’xw (Kwakwaka’wakw) chief and carver who lived and worked in Ba’as (Blunden Harbour), an isolated and traditional village on the mainland side of Queen Charlotte Strait, British Columbia. He lived through major political, technological and cultural changes, including the banning of potlatch ceremonies and the introduction of residential schools. Seaweed remained committed to leading cultural preservation and to carving imaginative and complex cultural objects, including masks, headdresses, poles, house fronts, panels, and wall hangers such as this one.

This rare painted wood relief shows a Sisiutl, a supernatural two-headed serpent creature with curled horns and outstretched tongues, found across Indigenous cultures in the Pacific Northwest, most commonly in Kwakwaka'wakw art and Oral Traditions. The symmetrical snake-like heads are sometimes depicted with a third humanoid figure in the centre, as seen here. The legendary being is said to be able to transform into a human, animal or a canoe, and turn onlookers to stone. The Sisiutl is held in the highest regard among Kwakwaka’wakw people and appears on the clothing of warriors, on canoes, and on homes as a symbol of power, transformation and protection.

Although Seaweed was known to almost never sign his work, his remaining examples of fewer than 150 pieces possess signature elements that allow art historians to reliably attribute objects to him. For example, the distinctive black five-sided ovoid shapes that stand in for the creature’s irises can be found in Seaweed’s own Killer Whale and Ravens Headdress that he was photographed wearing, as well as in a Thunderbird and Sisiutl Headdress that renders the teeth, scales, tongue and horns of the Sisiutl with formline design matching this relief.

Please note: the frame size measures 12 1/2 x 19 x 1 3/4 inches.

For the biography on Gary Bell in PDF format, please click here.

To view the full catalogue for The Gary Bell Collection: Masterworks of Northwest Coast Art, please click here.