Stan Wamiss is a Kwakwaka’wakw carver from the Quatsino First Nation who primarily works in monumental scale. He is the son of Chief Tom Patch Wamiss (1895-1963), a well-known master carver from Kingcome Inlet who worked with Willie Seaweed (c.1873-1967). [1] The influence of both of these men can be seen in the younger Wamiss’ work, particularly his large-scale transformation masks. Wamiss has pieces in the permanent collections of the Burke Museum (2017-95/8) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and was featured in the important Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition Down from the Shimmering Sky: Masks of the Northwest Coast. [2]

This thunderbird mask by Wamiss is rendered in classic Kwakwaka’wakw style with some obvious homages to Willie Seaweed, particularly in the shape and execution of the eyes and nostrils and the extreme precision of the carving and paint. It is also a functional dance mask, complete with articulated jaw and embellished with hammered cedar bark and cedar bark rope. Notably, this mask was made the same year he completed his large-scale transformation mask for YVR.

1. Tom Patch Wamiss biography. Museum of Anthropology UBC. http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/search/person?person=3355&tab=biography

2. Macnair, Peter L., Robert Joseph, Bruce Grenville. 1998. Down from the Shimmering Sky: Masks of the Northwest Coast. Seattle; Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 117.

Christopher W. Smith