The paint is red, blue, and black.

This figure stood on top of a pole that was erected in 1928 at the time the Fort Rupert Kwakwaka'wakw were called to a great potlatch at Blunden Harbor. The eagle was carved by Willie Seaweed, the chief of the Nakwakdakw, and was said to be watching for the arriving tribe. It is carved of red cedar and painted in black, red, yellow, and white. Much of the paint has weathered away, but enough remains to suggest its original appearance. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

The paint is red, black, and white.

The wood is alder. The paint is black.

This mask represents one of the mythical human-eating birds that appear during the Hamatsa dances, the most important of the Tseyka dances. The appearance of these masks helps to calm and tame the initiate Hamatsa dancer, who has been possessed by the Cannibal Spirit. The dancer, hidden by a long fringe of red-dyed cedar bark, imitates the high-stepping actions of the bird, shouts the bird's call, and snaps the hinged beak loudly at important points of the dance. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

The paint is white, green, and red.

This mask was carved by the artist, Willie Seaweed. When it is used in the Tlasula performance, the killer whale and sun mask appears following the disappearance of the headdress dancer. Moving with slow steps around the dance house, the blanketed mask dancer turns his head one way and another to display the great sun disk and killer whale glowing in the firelight amidst swirling white down blown by the attendants. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Throughout the masking area of the Northwest Coast, the dramatic effect of opening jaws and other moving parts on masks was recognized. Of all the tribes using masks, however, the Kwakwaka'wakw carried articulation to its highest development. This small thunderbird forehead mask uses two variations on the theme. The lower mandible is hinged to allow it to open and close, and the crest of wooden feathers between the ears can be spread like a fan or dropped back to lie flat on the head. Strings control movement of these parts. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Masks worn in the taming of the hamatsa vary widely in size. At just over one foot in length, this crooked beak mask is among the smaller masks. It may be an example of a type called heyhliwey, a small forehead mask worn by the hamatsa himself or his female attendant during his last, tame dance. However, because the jaw is hinged and controlled with a cord suggests that it was intended to be used in the humsumala or cannibal mask dance. The short snout, simple painting, and the form of the nostril are characteristic of hamatsa masks made around the turn of the century. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

The painting on this feast spoon is expertly and elegantly done. The figure fits its somewhat difficult format without any apparent forcing or distortion of elements. Master artists of the Northwest Coast excelled in composition for awkward shapes or on complex, three-dimensional surfaces. This feast spoon is one of three in the collection of the Burke Museum. Lieutenant George Emmons, who collected this spoon, identified the creature on it as an eagle. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)