The paint is black and red.

According to archeological record, the Queen Charlotte Islands were populated at least seven thousand years ago. Haida traditions claim the origin of humankind in the islands, but they also tell of the subsequent arrival of the ancestors of certain lineages by sea. In either case, the ancient Haida were of necessity expert canoeists, and generations of hard and practical experience made them unsurpassed designers, makers, and users of canoes. This canoe model was made by the renowned Haida artist Charles Edenshaw. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The paint is black, red, and green.

The paint is black.

The paint is red and black.

It is not difficult to see how the theatrically sophisticated people of the Northwest Coast, people with traditions of representing in art and dance the creatures of history and myth, would conceive of and utilize puppets and marionettes. The imagination required to make lifeless wood seem alive is a requisite of the mask maker. Puppets and marionettes are extensions of the mask carver's work of bringing the myth-people to life. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)