Скачать или смотреть Calvin Hunt: Northwest Coast artist on his Nuu-chah-nulth Land Chief Mask

In this video, Kwagu’ł artist Calvin Hunt introduces his Nuu-chah-nulth Land Chief Mask and explains how it is stylistically different to a Southern Kwaguʼł style mask. This mask has an articulated jaw and copper eyebrows.

"We are all related to the environment that we live in—the sky, land, water. The land we live in is who we are and where we come from." Reflecting his maternal heritage, Calvin’s Land Man mask, with its high forehead, distinctive eye form, flat planes and bold asymmetric geometric designs, recalls traditional Nuu-chah-nulth artistic conventions.

"This is my version of a portrait mask carved in Nuu-chah-nulth style—using the colours of Mother Earth. Some young artists seem to like to use bright colours and sometimes you can ruin a piece just by using colours that just don’t go well together. I think that was something that our grandfather, Mungo Martin, thought about. In the 1950s when he was working at the provincial museum in Victoria, he mixed up a batch of original colours used by the Kwakwaka’wakw on their poles and masks and took them to BAPCO, the paint company. Based on Mungo’s advice, they created a special set of commercial oil paints called “Totem Pole Paint.”
And you know, his colours weren’t big and bold and flashy. They were all nice and they went well together. And that’s what I try to do." —Calvin Hunt

Calvin Hunt is Chief Tłasutiwalis, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Hereditary Chief Nas’a̱m’yus, Mowachaht. He is a highly respected Northwest Coast artist, teacher, and inductee into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 2009, he was also honoured with the BC Creative Achievement Award for Aboriginal Art. He started to carve when he was 12 years old and is an important member of the internationally renowned Mungo Martin / Hunt Family of Master Carvers.

Learn more Calvin Hunt and his work at https://spiritsofthewestcoast.com