Haida+Painting

Haida Painting

“ If we look at the world in the form of a circle, let us look at what is on the inside of the circle as experience, culture and knowledge: let us look at this as the past ... What is outside of the circle is yet to be experienced. But in order to expand the circle we must know what is inside the circle ... it has been the art that has brought us back to our roots. ... I am proud to be one of those people chosen to put the puzzle back together and move on ...The challenge is ours to keep expanding the circle.” The Haida are an Indigenous nation of the west coast of North America. The Haida territories comprise an archipelago called HaidaGwaii, off the coast of British Columbia, and southeast of Alaska. Haidaswere traditionally known as the naked fierce warriors and slave-traders, raiding as far as California. The Haida people are well known as skilled artisans of wood, metal and design. Haida art consists of two dimensional painting and three-dimensional sculptural works. Painting and two dimensional art generally makes use of formlines that outline basic shapes, often ovoid, in heavy dark outline. Images can be built up from the positioning of formline defined shapes embellished with mouths, beaks, claws, horns or other attributes of the person or animal being depicted.

Notable Haida artists of the 19th century include Guujaaw, a notable carver and builder who is also Haida political leader. Other notable artists include Bill Reid, Robert Davidson and Michael NicollYahgulanaas.

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** Bill Reid ** Bill Reid was born in Victoria, B.C., in 1920. Although in his early years unaware of his Haida ancestry, he was to become perhaps the single most important figure in the late twentieth century renaissance of Haida culture -- a culture almost destroyed after the European colonization of the Haida homeland on the Northwest Coast. To describe him as a "Haida artist" is, however, not to refer to his ethnic background so much as it is to indicate the school of tradition within which he worked. Bill Reid dies on March 13, 1998. http://www.billreidfoundation.org media type="youtube" key="1RZx1mysvNg" width="560" height="315" Robert Davidson (born November 4, 1946) is one of Canada’s most respected and important contemporary artists. A Northwest Coast native of Haida descent, he is a master carver of totem poles and masks and works in a variety of other media as a printmaker, painter and jeweller.http://www.robertdavidson.ca   media type="youtube" key="LjQXcZqv4fw" width="560" height="315" ** Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas ** Michael NicollYahgulanaas (born 1954) is a visual artist, and creator of Haida manga, from Delkalta in Masset on HaidaGwaii. Although Yahgulanaas trained under master carvers, his brief exposure to Chinese brush techniques with Cai Ben Kwan encouraged a departure from the typical expressions of the Haida art form and the development of a new genre of narrative art called "Haida manga." http://mny.ca/en/ media type="youtube" key="POMbyPLhqRI" width="560" height="315" align="center"
 * Robert Davidson **

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