Singers who sit at the back of the house in front of a painted screen use wooden batons such as these to beat on a plank on time with their songs. The baton (in front), which has a thunderbird design, may have been carved by Willie Seaweed.

In times past the Kwakwaka'wakw did not use chairs, but sat on the floor or on the ground, sometimes leaning on the platform of the house, or on a plank fastened against stakes driven in the ground. A wealthy chief may have a more elaborate settee, carved and painted with his crests. This small settee, made by artist Willie Seaweed, was probably made for a favored child. The mythical creature depicted is called a Sisioohl. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

This mask was made by Willie Seaweed, an artist well represented in the Burke Museum collection. The heavy drooping eyebrows and mustache, open mouth, and staring eyes suggest a certain naivete. The face is entirely white, with the features in black and red. It is a highly intellectualized piece of sculpture, typical of Willie Seaweed in every way. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

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)

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)

This mask was made by Willie Seaweed as part of a set for the Gyidakhanis dance. The most obvious features of the artist are the precision and clarity of the planes of the face and the clean, meticulous painting. The mask is painted a solid white with commercial paint. The tiny mustache, round eyes, and arched eyebrows of typical Seaweed conformation are in glossy black, while the lips and nostrils are in red. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Decorated cradles like this one were used only by nobility, and the designs were probably valued family crests. This design represents a whale on the long sides and a copper on the back of the headboard. The whole surface is carved in low relief and painted in black, orange, yellow, red, white, and green on a blue ground. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Collected from Willie Seaweed and made by him for his wife, who owned the prerogative, this "Calling Down" mouth shows the workmanship associated with the work of that artist. The "mouth" was held in the teeth of the owner. It was called heygukhsti and gave the owner the privilege of publicly "calling down" or critically derogating people. No offense could be taken at these comments. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

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.

Large, carved, wooden, raven hamatsa mask with a long beak, an ovoid shaped projection on the ridge and thin, ovoid shaped cutout nostrils. The beak is hinged with pieces of leather nailed to either side. The beak is painted black with a red mouth and nose. From the edge of the mouth to the back of the nose are a series of red u-forms ending in a split u. At the back of the mouth are two white u-forms. The bridge has white and red detailing. The eyes are white, outlined in black and red, on a white ovoid shaped background; brow is black. The inside of the mask is hollow with the exception of twine used to open and close the beak. The top has short pieces of cedar creating a fringe, while the back has longer strips that hang over the wearer. The bottom is black with a white U-form. The mask is painted black, red, and white with Northwest Coast stylized designs.