This model half-canoe is a polyester/fibreglass study for Bill Reid's 50-foot canoe, Loo Taas, and was painted by Don Yeomans. It was fabricated by George Rammell, a Vancouver-based sculptor, activist, and writer who worked alongside Reid on many projects.
Originally, the piece had no top, instead being open like a real canoe. It was initially fabricated purely as a study in hull design, allowing the team to observe how much the bow and stern of the full-scale canoe would bend under load.
According to Rammell, Bill Reid never intended Loo Taas to function as a real, seaworthy canoe - he conceived of it more as a sculpture of a canoe, which meant the hull shape wasn't entirely correct from a functional standpoint. Rammell recalled that both artists Robert Davidson and Guujaaw immediately noticed that the canoe's flattened shape was "off" upon inspection, but Reid stood by his opinion that he was creating a canoe sculpture from an artistic standpoint, rather than a functional standpoint.
To bring Reid's design to life, once the 50-foot canoe was carved to his aesthetic design, weights were put in the ballast of the wood canoe to properly weigh down the backside, allowing it to be sea-worthy.
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Indigenous artwork on the Pacific Northwest Coast often incorporates figures and animals that are related to crest symbols. Crests have been passed down through families and have varying meanings depending on the context and association with a nation, clan, or family. The figures depicted in contemporary Northwest Coast Indigenous artwork also have varying meanings but there are some common characteristics from a range of sources, including oral histories and artist descriptions.
Raven is one of the most recognized figures in Northwest Coast art and oral tradition. Viewed oftentimes as a transformer and a trickster, Raven is the hero of many adventures such as the release of light into the world and the discovery of mankind. As a trickster figure, Raven can be celebrated for his cleverness, wit, and mischievous nature. In some oral traditions, Raven possesses the ability to shape-shift and is often depicted with a sense of humor and playfulness. Raven is identified by a thick, straight beak and the lack of plumage or horns on the head. Oftentimes, Raven will be depicted with a ball of light in his beak.
