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The Atlakin mask dance plays an important role in the ceremonial life of the Kwakiutl. Atlakim beings are forest spirits of the most diverse appearance. Their chief is Xamsalilala. He is the first to appear and summons the other 39 spirits, one after the other, into the ceremonial hall. This Xamsalilala mask, also shown on the dust jacket, was carved in the 1940s by the famous chief and artist Willie Seaweed (1873-1967), a Nakoaktok Kwakiutl from Blunden Harbor, located on the mainland opposite Port Hardy. Bill Holm dedicated an exhibition and a book with the. title "Smoky Top" (Vulkan) to this famous chief and artist. (27 cm, MOA, A6088)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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This thunderbird frontlet, inset with haliotis shell, was the property of a chief of the Tlatlasikoala Kwakiutl, from Hope Island off the northern tip of Vancouver Island. He acquired it from the Bella Coola. (20 cm: MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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Alert Bay is, without a doubt, one of the centers of the contemporary Kwakiutl community. This is where the Nimkish iived, once the third most powerful Kwakiutl group. Pictured is the current president of the village, Chief Pat Alfred, with one of his grandchildren.

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Of the four supporting posts of the ceremonial house in Alert Bay, the two posts in back are identically carved with the figure of the forest giantess Tsonoquoa with a thunderbird. The cross beam represents the two-headed sea monster Sisiutl. The carving was done by a local artist, Henry Speck. The board wall, which shields the sacred part of the ceremonial house, depicts a thunderbird and a killer whale.

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During the renaissance of traditional Kwakiutl culture, a large ceremonial house was built in Alert Bay at the initiative of the former chief, James Sewid. It is 15 meters (49 feet) wide, 21 meters (69 feet) long and 5.1 meters (17 feet) high. The center's opening on June 18, 1966, was planned to coincide with the Centennial of the Province of British Columbia. The front is decorated with an enormous killer whale, the door is protected by the figure of a guardian.

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The Atlakin mask dance plays an important role in the ceremonial life of the Kwakiutl. Atlakim beings are forest spirits of the most diverse appearance. Their chief is Xamsalilala. He is the first to appear and summons the other 39 spirits, one after the other, into the ceremonial hall. This Xamsalilala mask, also shown on the dust jacket, was carved in the 1940s by the famous chief and artist Willie Seaweed (1873-1967), a Nakoaktok Kwakiutl from Blunden Harbor, located on the mainland opposite Port Hardy. Bill Holm dedicated an exhibition and a book with the title "Smoky Top" (Vulkan) to this famous chief and artist. (27 cm, MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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This mortuary pole with Tsonoquoa and the thunderbird stands in the cemetery at Alert Bay. It is one of the masterpieces of Willie Seaweed, who carved it in 1931.

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The grizzly bear, depicted here with a human figure between its legs, is a favorite subject of Kwakiutl artists. In 1980 this totem pole was still standing on Main Street in Alert Bay. Unfortunately, its present location is unknown.

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This 3.6-meter-tall (12-foot-tall) ancestral figure, carved from the wood of a red cedar, served as a house post in the interior of a Koskimo Kwakiutl house in Quatsino. The lower portion shows two slaves carrying a plank, which presumably served as the seat for a chief. A killer whale and coppers are depicted on the figure. (MOA)

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These house posts was collected in 1893 in Kitimat at the upper end of the Douglas Channel. They belonged to the Haisla Kwakiutl. (173 cm: MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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These house posts was collected in 1893 in Kitimat at the upper end of the Douglas Channel. They belonged to the Haisla Kwakiutl. (159 cm: MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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In this bentwood box, measuring only 32 cm (13 inches), a Haisla shaman from Kitamaat stored his utensils. The lid is decorated with opercula, the "plugs" of a sea snail shell. (MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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This soul catcher, representing the two-headed sea monster Sisiutl, belonged to a Haisla shaman from Kitlope, located on the Gardner Canal. If the shaman was successful in recovering the patient's lost soul during the healing ritual, he would keep it in the body of the small human figure, whose head is removable, and return it to the patient. (16 cm; MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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Among the potlatch goods that were confiscated from the Nimkish in 1921 was this hawk mask, the guardian spirit of a chief. It was returned to the Nimkish and, since 1980, has been on exhibit in Alert Bay at the U’mista Cultural Centre. (See page 134.)

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A Nimkish fishing boat is returning to the harbor at Alert Bay early in the morning. The downriggers for nets and lines are in a vertical position.

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Bella Bella has been the main village of the Heiltsuk Kwakiutl for more than 100 years. It can only be reached by boat or plane. In contrast to most other Indian communities in Canada, the Bella Bella First Nation permits the sale of alcoholic beverages in its own liquor store.

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Fishing is still an important industry for Northwest Coast Indians today. Because their fishing rights are not respected by the governments of Alaska or British Columbia, the Indians are forced to engage in expensive legal battles, which have even reached international proportions.

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In 1980 the Nimkish Kwakiutl in Alert Bay opened the new Umista Cultural Centre. Its front, decorated with a thunderbird and killer whale, is patterned after an old chiefs house.

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This Lekwiltok Kwakiutl mask represents Bookwus, the wild forest monster. The animal-like ears are missing from the forehead. Confiscated in 1922, along with other potlatch goods, the mask was returned in 1979 to the new Kwakiutl museum in Quathiaski Cove, located on Quadra Island, British Columbia.

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A hamatsa bird mask with movable beak. This monster raven serves Bakhbakwalanooksiwey, the cannibalistic creature of the north. Carved by Mungo Martin, one of the best-known artists and chiefs of the Fort Rupert Kwakiutl, (103 cm, MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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In carving this mask in 1985, the artist, Tim Paul, was inspired by a fairly rare motif in Nootka culture and was guided by the well-known original in the de Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. As the round, calling mouth indicates, this is a Tsonoquoa mask. The forest giantess was actually known only to the Kwakiutl, not to the Nootka. The northern Nootka, however, carried on commerce with the Nimkish Kwakiutl and also traded masks with them.

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Petroglyph from Cape Mudge, located on Quadra Island. That the face represents a sacrificed slave is one of several theories about this and similar representations. This rock is now situated in front of the Kwakiutl Museum, Quathiaski Cove, B.C.

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On this silk-screen created in 1985 in the traditional style - if that can even be said about this new art form, which is relatively new to Northwest Coast art - Tony Hunt has drawn three important heraldic animals. At the top is the eagle, his claws on the head of a killer whale. which is resting on a beaver.

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«Kwa-Gulth Moon» (Kwakiutl Moon). Silk-screen print from Richard Hunt with U and S forms, as well as the color yellow, typical characteristics of the Kwakiutl style. (65 cm, 1978)

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Tony Hunt explains a halibut motif on a new totem pole for his Fort Rupert Kwakiutl community.