Welcome to Spirits of the West Coast Native Art Gallery

Presenting original Pacific Northwest Coast Native American Art including Haida Art, Kwakiutl Art, Coast Salish Art, Masks, Carvings, Jewellery, Prints and Sculptures.

Native Masks	Native Prints	Native Carvings Sculptures	Native Jewelry

Welcome to our authentic Native American Art Gallery located on 2926 Back Road in Courtenay, BC, Canada. We specialize in Haida Art and Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka´wakw Art. Our gallery offers you original Pacific Northwest Coast Native Art including masks, carvings and sculptures made of yellow and red cedar, yew wood, box wood, alder and argillite. We also offer beautiful Native Indian Jewelry made of gold, silver, argillite and other materials as well as limited edition prints. Our personal contact with our native artists and masters from the Haida, Coast Salish and Kwakiutl Nations, allows us to offer commissioned pieces. Just give us a call and we will be happy to help fulfill your wishes.

Jewelry

Northwest Coast Natives are famous for their beautiful designs and fine jewelry. High quality rings, bracelets, earrings and pendants made of silver and gold are highly valued. Increasingly artists are combining different materials like wood, ivory, bone, copper, argillite, abalone shell, cedar bark, beads, feathers, amber, turquoise, leather silver and gold to create beautiful masterpieces. Traditionally jewellery was used in ceremonies and everyday life to represent wealth and high standing.

Paintings and Prints

Traditionally Northwest Coast Paintings are mostly done on carved objects such as paddles, panels, clothing, hats, canoes, bent boxes etc. Some paintings are now being done on canvas and paper, which often represent stories and myths as well as spiritual creatures, animals combined with a mixture of realism and northwest coast designs. In recent times Northwest Coast native artists have started to produce limited edition prints or serigraphs of their original drawings and painting. This allows them to make their art available and accessible for a wider variety of national and international collectors.

Wood Carvings

Pacific Northwest Coast Native Wood Carvings are usually made from yellow cedar, red cedar, alder, yew wood and box wood. You will most often find masks, paddles, totem poles, bentwood boxes and other containers, rattles and talking sticks.

Masks

Historically, West Coast Native Masks from the Haida and Kwakiutl nations were mainly used for ceremonial purposes. The masks often represented spirit creatures, animals and myths. When used in ceremonies the dancers would take on the personification of the creatures that the masks represented and enter the supernatural world during the dance. A transformation mask often represents the transformation of a human to a mythical creature or animal and vice versa.

Sculptures

Northwest Coast Sculptures are made in wood, argillite, silver, gold, bronze, stone, ivory and glass. They often depict a story, mythical spirits, animals, family crests, replicas of totem poles, boxes and other larger carvings as well as contemporary interpretations. There have been many monumental sculptures created in bronze and wood by West Coast Native Indian Artists, which have been placed all around the world. Our Argillite Sculptures are made exclusively from members of the Haida Nation.

Paddles

The traditional paddles are used by many West Coast Natives to steer and paddle the large cedar canoes in the coastal waters of the Northwest Pacific. Paddles are also used during ceremonial dances and in the past have also been used as weapons. These paddles are often magnificently carved and painted with traditional and contemporary Northwest Coast designs and stories.

Totem Poles

The large monumental wooden totem poles were raised for ceremonial purposes in the native villages. Some totem poles were raised in front of cedar longhouses and these often represented an important story or the crests of the family that lived in the longhouse. Some poles were mortuary poles where the dead were place on the top of a single pole in a sitting position. Sometime the dead were placed in a mortuary box that was suspended between two poles. Replicas of these large monumental poles are often carved in wood, ivory, and argillite.

Bentwood Boxes and other Containers

Bentwood boxes are made from one plank of wood that is steamed at three corners and bend around to form a box. The fourth joining corner is usually doweled with wooden pegs or copper nails. They are usually fitted with a bottom, which is doweled on, and a lid. Bentwood boxes and other conventionally carved boxes, chests and other containers were used for storing and cooking food as well as storing ceremonial cloths, masks, and other treasures. Bentwood boxes were also used for ancient box burials and other types of funeral ceremonies. Bentwood boxes and other containers are often elaborately carved and painted.

Rattles

There are many kinds of rattles made by Northwest Coast Natives. West Coast Native Rattles are often made from wood, horn, deer hides, woven cedar bark, and shells. The elaborately carved and painted wooden rattles are usually hollowed out and small hard objects like pebbles or dried seeds are placed inside. A large variety of representative rattles were used by chiefs, shamans and ceremonial dancers.

Talking Sticks

Talking sticks are usually made of wood. They are often elaborately carved in traditional northwest coast designs and decorated with abalone shell, ivory, silver, gold and copper. During ceremonial feasts and other festivities the person giving a speech held the talking stick and passed it on to the next speaker when finished.

Our Goal

Our mission is to offer our clients magnificent West Coast Native Art in a convenient and secure environment. Our online gallery attempts to make your visit as close as possible to visiting this remarkable work in person. Besides offering you multiple images from different perspectives, we present a special 360 degree QuickTime movie for many of our carvings, sculptures and jewellery pieces.