Northwest Coast peoples were maritime engineers who mastered the art of building dugout caes from gigantic red cedars, using only tools made from bone, stone, and wood. Ubiquitous, these elegant craft were used for everyday and ceremonial purposes, for fishing, hunting and trading, for feasting and potlatching, and in warfare -- they were the keys that unlocked the treasure chest of the North Pacific. Bill Reid and the Haida Cae tells the story of the Northwest Cae from its zenith in pre-contact times, through its decline in the late nineteenth century, to its revival in Lootaas (Wave Eater) which Bill Reid built for Expo '86, to its culmination with the Tribal Cae Journeys of the twenty-first century and The Spirit of Haida Gwaii sculptures. Bill Reid expressed awe for the traditional Haida cae and what it represents visually, symbolically, and culturally. In his words, Western art starts with the figure -- West Coast Indian art starts with the cae . The successive journeys of Lootaas were significant stages in Bill Reid's work, which culminated with the iconic sculpture The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, a monumental bronze cae filled to overflowing with creatures of Haida mythology (currently featured on the Canadian twenty-dollar bill). As a final creative act Bill Reid requested that, at the end of his life, his ashes be transported in Lootaas paddled by a crew of his Haida friends and relatives to Tanu, his grandmother's village in Gwaii Haanas. The story is told through writings and artworks by Bill Reid, vivid photographs by Phillip Hersee, Ulli Steltzer, Robert Semeniuk and others, texts by James Raffan, Martine J. Reid, and Mike Robinson and first-hand accounts by First Nations paddlers. This is a companion book to the Bill Reid and the Haida Cae exhibition mounted by the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art and touring to the Canadian Cae Museum in Peterborough, Ontario.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Harbour Publishing
ISBN-10
1550175580
ISBN-13
9781550175585
eBay Product ID (ePID)
111555589
Product Key Features
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Individual Artists / Art Monographs
Additional Product Features
Edited by
Martine J. Reid
Content Note
100 B/w & Colour Photos
Author Biography
Martine J Reid is Director of Content and Research at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in downtown Vancouver, BC. She was married to Haida carver Bill Reid, who died in 1998.
Date of Publication
02/04/2012
Country of Publication
Canada
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