Cedar mat

A killer whale takes centre stage on this woven mat of red cedar bark strips. The image of the whale flanked by two wolf heads is painted on the mat with natural dyes. The whale and wolf heads are drawn in the graphic style of the Northwest Coast: the artist draws a subject’s outline and fills it with abstract shapes. These internal shapes may play roles in a myth that is being represented– notice the face on the whale’s tail, for example – or they may show the sides and the back of the creature.