Rated
Jun 09 2008
•
2 reviews
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animals, painting, spirituality, art, boats
• naturesscene.com
Painter, ROBERT BATEMAN, captures the heart and soul of his subjects, be they animate or inanimate.
From the page:
Canoes were essential to the way of life of the Haida, a native people of the
west coast of North America. Their relationship to the ocean is an ancient one.
According to Haida legend, the fish in the sea, the salmon in their rivers, even
the sun in the sky, were placed there by the Raven, whom they believed also
coaxed the first humans out of a clamshell on the beach.
"On a visit to the Queen Charlotte Islands, a Haida elder guided my wife, Birgit, and
me to a secluded spot on a peaceful bay. There, Bill Reid's canoe sat at a lonely anchorage."
Reid was a pioneer who did much to revive the ancient forms of Haida art. It was
Reid who directed the hollowing of the 50-foot canoe from a single ancient red cedar
according to traditional Haida designs, following their traditional method. The canoe
was the first of its kind in almost one hundred years. Powered by 20 Haida paddlers, it
made an epic 558-mile journey from Vancouver to Skidegate and truly earned its name,
Loo Taa (Wave Eater).
"Seeing the canoe was, for me, a kind of spiritual experience. And although there was
no raven present on that day, in my mind's eye, I saw one. To the Haida, the raven is a
wily trickster-transformer who created the world, and I could see him, hovering over
the canoe, perfectly centered."
-- Robert Bateman
