Glen Rabena

Glen Rabena is a well-known carver in the Northwest Coast First Nations tradition. He began carving 1970 and is one of the very few non-native artists that was accepted into the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Native Art and Design where he studied for two years (1975-1976). In 1978 he illustrated designs for the “Birds of K’san” by Susan Marsden and the Gitksan Advisory Group, which became the inspiration for his series of serigraph bird prints.  

For many years, he worked alongside Robert Davidson, assisting in the carving of large works. This includes a 30 foot canoe and Davidson's famous totem poles for the Pepsico World Headquarters sculpture garden. In November 1986, Claude Davidson adopted Rabena as his son at a potlatch hosted in Haida Gwaii. 

In 1990, he was artist in residence with Haida Master Carver Reg Davidson at Headlands Centre for the Arts in San Francisco, where they carved a thirty-foot canoe. Rabena was a featured artist in Ulli Steltzer’s book, Indian Artists At Work. He is now living on Hornby Island, in British Columbia