Charlie James

The son of a Fort Rupert native woman, Charlie James, or Yakuglas, is best known for the many small model totem poles he carved to sell to non-natives.

In addition to these tourist artifacts, which grace many private and public collections in North America, Charlie James produced many traditional objects of Kwakwaka’wakw patrons. Such a commissioned piece stood in front of the late Peter S. Smith’s house at Kalokwis on Turnour Island.

Charlie James was instrumental in establishing what might be termed the Fort Rupert substyle of Kwakwaka’wakw art. This substyle, distinct from that of the Blunden Harbour-Smith Inlet carvers, was developed and elaborated by his stepson Mungo Martin and is carried on today by Martin’s descendants, the Hunt family of carvers.