In June of 1983 Chuck Heit (Ya’Ya) was invited by the National Indian Arts and Crafts Corporation to carve a cedar pole on Victoria Island in the Ottawa River, as part of Ottawa’s Canoe Festival. The artist and his work often drew crowds, and he was not able to finish it on site. With the help of two assistants, Ya’Ya completed the work at the home of a collector who had committed to its purchase while it was still in progress. The result is this classic Haida totem featuring Beaver with large incisors and a patterned tail folded into the front of the design. The Beaver appears in many Northwest Coast stories as a creature of great wealth who is often also a victim of frequent thefts by Raven. Beaver finds and hoards many undiscovered wonders including a private lake of Salmon. Raven successfully steals the Salmon but drops them into the lakes, rivers and ocean all over the Northwest Coast during his escape.

This seven-foot totem has a presence that is undeniable and immersive. The rich graining of the cedar log is immediately striking; while the composition exhibits impressive, balanced proportions and clarity of form, with smooth transitions between the carved areas and the strong, clean lines of judiciously applied paint. The human face tucked between Beaver’s legs was carved by one of Ya’Ya’s assistants. [1]

Ya’Ya grew up immersed in the creative energy of the Gitanmaax (K’san) School in Hazelton, including the early years when many of the master or future master artists were travelling to the school for both instruction and the growing movement of the renaissance of Northwest Coast art. His family was instrumental in the founding of the school and his uncle, Walter Harris became an early mentor in his career. Ya’Ya assisted Harris, Earl Muldoe, and Ken Mowatt on pole commissions, and apprenticed with Robert Davidson for two years. [2] Dedicated to the art and culture of the Gitxsan nation, Chuck remained in Hazelton for his entire life, eventually teaching at the school himself. Ya’Ya created many traditional works, but several pieces were carved in the spirit of political or social commentary. [3]

1. The collector’s recollection is that Reg Davidson helped Ya’Ya finish the pole (hence “RD”), and that he carved the human face; however, Davidson cannot recall the project. It is believed that “RH” was one of Ya’Ya’s cousins, Rodney or Richard Harris.

2. Ya’Ya assisted Robert Davidson on his monumental commission, the triple Three Watchmen poles at College Park in Toronto in 1984 and returned to Ottawa in 1985 to assist his uncle Walter Harris in the creation of a forty-foot cedar pole, also on Victoria Island (“Asinabka”).

3. Two of three works in Gary Wyatt’s book Mythic Beings, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1999) have political content; see pp. 90-91 and 94-95. See also Allan J. Ryan, The Trickster Shift: Humour and Irony in Contemporary Native Art, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1999), pp. 235, 250.

Gary Wyatt with First Arts