Carved cedar mask by Kwakwaka’wakw artist Rupert Scow, features a killer whale head with a dorsal fin sticking up, and two pectoral fins below, painted all-over in black, white, green, yellow, and red. A red braid of cedar bark is wrapped around the face, and an abalone is inlaid in the eyes and teeth.

Rupert Scow was born in 1957 in Alert Bay, BC. The Scow family, known as The People of the Bear, is Kwicksuitaineuk from the village of Gwayasdums on Gilford Island. They take the Bear and Gwayasdum’s crest of the Sisiutl, or double-headed sea serpent, as family crests. Scow comes from a long line of carvers and respected elders, including his great-grandfather, Mungo Martin, and great-grandfather, Chief Johnny Scow. This wealth of culture instilled a strong sense of heritage in Rupert Scow and his five brothers, all of whom are exceptional carvers.

Under the guidance of Wayne Alfred, Vince Shaughnessy and Shaun Karpes, Scow began carving cedar in 1991, creating masks, rattles, bowls, poles and transformation masks. He completed the Native Education Center’s jewelry course in 2008, and now volunteers his time teaching aspiring First Nations carvers in the Lower Mainland.

• Acrylic on cedar, cedar bark, abalone
  
• 25” x 8” x 10.5”
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