Early life

Kwakwaka'wakw carver Willie Seaweed was born in 1893 at Blunden Harbour, British Columbia

Blunden Harbour, British Columbia

Blunden Harbour is a small harbour and native Indian reserve in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located the mainland side of Queen Charlotte Strait – about northeast of Port Hardy. It is located at .-History:...

, where he lived until his death in 1967. Both his parents came from chiefly lines and so as chief of the Nakwaktokw band, Seaweed was called Heyhlamas or Rights Maker. His informal name was Kwaghitola or Smoky Top. Seaweed was his official Canadian name, as First People had to have a legal name recognized by the government.

Seaweed’s father was a Kwakwaka'wakw chief and died when he was a young boy. Somehow Seaweed managed to avoid attending the government boarding school, as was the practice at the time. As a result he maintained and spoke his Kwak'wala

Kwak'wala

Kwak'wala is the Indigenous language spoken by the Kwakwaka'wakw. It belongs to the Wakashan language family. There are about 250 Kwak'wala speakers today, which amounts to 5% of the Kwakwaka'wakw population...

 language during his entire lifetime. During his childhood, Seaweed apprenticed in carving with his half brother Johnny Davis.

Professional life

Seaweed was a Northwest Coast carver in the tradition of Charles James, Mungo Martin

Mungo Martin

Chief Mungo Martin or Nakapenkem , Datsa , was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. He was a major contributor to Kwakwaka'wakw art, especially in the realm of wood sculpture and painting...

 and Charles Edenshaw

Charles Edenshaw

Charles Edenshaw was a Haida artist from Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. He is known for his woodcarving, argillite carving, jewellery, and painting.-Background:...

. His professional career coincided with the Canadian ban on the Potlatch

Potlatch

A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...

 ceremony. During this time Seaweed carved totem pole

Totem pole

Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...

s, coppers, headdresses, drums, rattles, whistles, and masks as well as painting house fronts. Most of Seaweed’s work was considered illegal because they consisted of ceremonial items and had to do with chiefly duties or public speaking.

There are over 120 known and cataloged examples of Seaweed’s work in existence. Many more examples probably exist in private collections or within the Kwakwaka'wakw community as gifts from potlatch ceremonies. Seaweed used his extensive knowledge of traditional stories, songs and dances and incorporated them into his work.

Artistic style

Seaweed was also an innovator who developed the staid Kwakwaka'wakw art style into a more dynamic and flamboyant expression. Combined with Chief George, Charley George Sr. and George Walkus, Seaweed helped to create a new Kwakwaka'wakw style in the 1920s. This group of artists known as the “Kwakwaka'wakw Four” employed devices such as painting the background of a piece white, and using high gloss enamel paints in red, black, orange, yellow, blue and green, to give their work a more theatrical appearance. Seaweed also began using tools such as a compass and straight edge for precision line work and near perfect circles.

Seaweed was very prolific in his time. Of the more than 120 items collected, two thirds of these were masks. His masks tended to fall into three categories: Hamatsa (Cannibal Raven), Atlakam (Spirits of the Forest), and Tsonoqua (Cannibal Grandmother).

Legacy

The legacy of the Kwakwaka'wakw artists and Willie Seaweed in particular continued to flourish at the hands of their offspring. Charley George Jr., Charley G. Walkus and Joe Seaweed continued this remarkable artistic and cultural tradition and inspired today’s new generation of Northwest Coast art

Northwest Coast art

Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and other First Nations and Native American tribes of the Northwest Coast of North America, from pre-European-contact times up to the...

ists.