Beloved Tsartlip First Nation carver Charles Elliott is widely remembered for his striking art and cultural work. Born and raised in Saanich, BC, near Victoria in southern Vancouver Island, Elliot was a recipient of the Order of British Columbia and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts for his lifelong dedication to the arts, his community, and the preservation of Coast Salish languages. University of Victoria (UVic) awarded Elliott an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts in 2022. Elliott’s large-scale artwork has been selected for a number of special events over the years and can be found in the permanent collections of the Vancouver International Airport, UVic, and in and around his home community of Saanich. Along with fellow artist Susan Point (Musqueam, b. 1952), Elliott is credited with the revival, preservation, and popularization of Coast Salish sculpture and design.

This Wolf Spirit mask is a fine example of Elliott’s Coast Salish style that seamlessly blends sculpture with 2-dimensional forms. The trigons, crescents, and split-u shapes that define Coast Salish flat design are carved in low relief and painted in black, red, and blue paints. Each pāua inlaid eye is defined by a circle surrounded by two trigons. The tongue is painted in metallic copper paint and the top of the wolf head is adorned with hair and brown and white wool, as one might see on customary Coast Salish headdresses.

—Christopher W. Smith