The renowned Kwakwaka'wakw artist Mungo Martin identified this transformation mask as his own work. It was made for a chief named Lagius, probably around 1920. The style of carving and painting are recognizable as that of Mungo Martin or his stepfather and mentor Charley James. Although the mask is called Crane in the museum records, the gray color and the hunched attitude when folded are reminiscent of the great blue heron, a bird common to the Kwakwaka'wakw country and often miscalled crane in English. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

This bentwood bowl has high ends and low sides that imitate the shape of a carved oil dish. The formlines painted on the surface are in a freer style than those of nothern artists (compare the bentwood box to the right).

This Sculpin mask epitomizes the flamboyance of Kwakwaka'wakw theatrical sculpture. Jagged contours, bold, intertwined forms, and snapping, fanning, and waving appendages--all covered with contrasting and complex patterns of strong color--create creatures of startling fantasy. The subdued, wavering light of the dance house softens those contrasts amd unifies the forms. The sculpin swims to the rise and fall of its song in a sea of firelight and swirling eagle down. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

Kwakwaka'wakw box lids characteristically have a high, raised edge along one side and it is this flange, painted with a stylized face and inlaid with sea otter teeth, which remains from the ancient lids and which had a prominent part in the ceremonial repayment of the marriage price. The goods to be transferred, among them a box containing ritual material symbolizing the dances, were gathered on the ground within a square bounded by a line of the archaic lids. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The paint is black, red, green, and white. The wool is blue.

This forehead mask represents Kolus, a white down-covered thunderbird. It was carved by Willie Seaweed for his son, Joe, to use during the Great Dance of the Tlasula. Joe Seaweed received the privilege of performing this masked dance from his mother, Alice, who had it as part of her dowry.

The paint is black, red, green, white, yellow, and brown.

The paint is black and red.

The paint is green, red, and black.